Nations' Girl
by Sho-A0YCupid
Summary: It started as a normal day for all the nations in a meeting when a mysterious girl appeared out of nowhere from a magic circle. Lengthened summary inside.   Mainly GerIta, other pairings to be discovered later in the fic. T for now. Part 1 of 3
1. Chapter 1

**Announcement:** Hey everyone. This is my first huge fic with GerIta and my OOC character, who you will find out more within these first few chapters. Now, if you're reading this first, I would like to first let you guys know a few things about the fic. I got more chapters, but these first five are for you guys to let me know to continue, correct, or whatever. I'm an American, so I don't know a lot of language I'm fluent in other than English, so I will be using a translator for words and phrases for each nation's respective language.

Now, for those of you who know the languages better than I do, and I did something wrong, let me know and I will apologize and correct it.

Another thing is that I'll be doing the 'Engrish' for Japan, so expect a lot of that in this fic when Japan speaks. But even though I'm using the 'Engrish' for Japan, Germany will speak normally because I really suck on trying to get his accent in his speech. Speaking of which, I also did Sweden's, and I'm not sure if it's right or not, so I'm sorry if none of you understood my attempt at Sweden's 'accent speech'.

There will also be a few Hetalia characters that we haven't seen in the anime, but mentioned in the original webcomic, and mentioned in this one Hetalia Archive site I go to and, like some people do with Mexico or other nations with no clear gender or appearance, I'll be winging those to what I can guess at. So, don't giving me attitude for what I think one nation would look like, like in the anime and webcomic, these characters probably won't have a major part.

Another thing, because Hidekazu Himaruya didn't give the nations names until 2008 when the series started out in 2003, for the majority of these chapters the nations do not have a human name. But they will recieve it much later on if this fic is semi-successful.

**Summary:** It started as a normal day for all the nations in a meeting when a mysterious girl appeared out of nowhere from a magic circle. Who is she? Where did she come from? Why is she here? These and many more questions arise with each nation as they get to know her as they learn to mend feelings from their pasts. Mainly GerIta, other pairings will be mentioned later in the fic.

**Warnings:** Slight yoai, race slang, cursing, pairings you may not like but I do, ... and anything else you might want to brace yourself for.

Now that you guys got the jiff of what to expect in this fic, I hope you enjoy this and, if you choose to, let me know if you want more or take off entirely. Enjoy everyone!

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**Record 1**

_Chapter 1: Unexpected Arrival_

It was a bright and sunny morning and the nations were in the middle of a debate in the World Conference.

"Okay! For the whole global warming thing, I think we should-"

"You bloody wanker! This has better not be one of your idiotic hero ideas!"

Or lack of a debate…

"What? Someone has to come up with something. And as a hero I have to come up with every possible idea that's sure to work!" Boasted a tall, sandy blonde, blue eyed, bespectacled young man in a bomber jacket. "And this is a great idea! Am I right Japan?" He faced a petite man who looked to be as young as the first man, but shows that he's superior as far as maturity goes, with a simply styled black hair that barely touched his cheek bones, solemn brown eyes, and skin that seemed pale if not for the white uniform to show that he was not that pale.

"I agree with Ameri-" He started to say when a fist went down.

"Damn it Japan, tell us your own opinions!" Said another blonde whose hair reached to his chin and light green eyes. He was wearing a green uniform with a pistol in grabbing distance.

"Do you honestly think that you can use the same idiotic idea every meeting? You wanker?" Said a short dirty blonde haired man who's a bit older than the boasting man, thick eyebrows, emerald eyes , and was wearing a plain green uniform.

"Oh, England, those scones you gave me the other day were nasty." Said the boasting young man, causing the other man, England, to blow his stack.

"Oh you two!" Said another blonde who showed that he takes care of how he appears with a well maintained wavy blond hair that looked like silk, fashionable clothing, and even a small sign of a beard on his chin, and deep ocean eyes. "Would you quit such unsightly squabble." He grinned. "Why don't you two just kiss and make up like good brothers should, no?"

"France! You bloody frog!" England said. "Why the bloody hell would I kiss America!"

"Not to mention that he would no doubt kill me with whatever he last ate." America said as England and France started their own fight.

"Aiya… Those two are fighting again, aru?" Said a man similar to Japan, but has long hair that went pass his back and tied back to a simple low pony tail.

"Ah, let them Big Brother China! Da ze!" Said a larger, but younger than the other man and Japan, man with an unique curl that seemed to have a face there to describe his mood, which he still has no problem displaying it, especially since he was getting close to the other man. "Let them fight, it comes from Korea you know."

"No it doesn't, South Korea, and you know that, aru." Said China.

"Would you two stop that already?" Said a young woman in a tight green silk dress with some golden threading.

"What did we do, Vietnam?" South Korea asked

A young woman with soft brunette hair with a elongated curl, wide brown eyes, and a flower pinned in her hair made her way to Japan to greet him, while he responded with the name 'Taiwan' and were able to have a settle conversation.

Another young man with choppy brown hair that went down to his chin, brown eyes, and noticeable thick eyebrows like England, just drank his tea before China came over to say 'Hello Hong Kong' and was immediately glomped by South Korea again.

Somewhere else, a tanned man with short, brown curly hair, and cheery bright green eyes, walked around to stretch his legs and noticed another nation, a short, platinum blonde haired man, pale skin, and violet eyes, sitting there and watching the happenings of the meeting. "Oye, Russia, why don't you join in the discussion?"

"Who me?" Said Russia. "No thanks." This caused a bit of confusion to the tanned nation as the Russian smiled. "I'm waiting for Lithuania to get into trouble and come crawling back to me." He looked to see a young man with light brunette hair that reached to his shoulders, bluish-green eyes, and looked nervous from the sense of Russia staring at him. The Russian then looked at a small, whimpering child with a long, blonde haired woman with blue eyes staring down at the whimpering child. "And Latvia would follow right behind."

"Hello brother." Said the woman, making even Russia seem a tad nervous.

"Hello Belarus…" He said when he heard a chuckle and looked to see a blond, indigo eyed, bespectacled man with a cocky grin.

"You think you're so tough, but you're only picking on those who are weaker, aren't you?"

Russia continued to smile. "You can be very annoying, Estonia."

"Hey!"

Russia looked up to see another blonde that touched his shoulders and green eyes stepping in front of Lithuania.

"If you like take another step to Liet, I'll, like, pull the Polish rule on you and, like, make Warsaw your capital!"

"Oh, why can you get along?" Said a short platinum blonde woman, blue eyes, and a very developed bust.

"Don't worry, Ukraine," Lithuania said. "They do this all the time."

Back to where Japan is a young blonde haired woman came up to the blonde man next to Japan and, without the indigo hair ribbon, one would think they were twins with the same length of their hair style and eyes. "Morning Switzerland."

"Ah! Liechtenstein, good morning." The young man said as the young woman sat down.

"Did I miss anything?" She asked.

"No, you didn't." He said as they started to talk.

"Oye! Spain! Where the hell are you, bastardo!" Called out a young man with dark brown hair with a wayward curl that went up from where the hair parted, green/hazel and amber colored eyes, and a slight tan.

"I'm right here, Romano." The man who talked to Russia said as he headed back to where the other was calling him.

"Bastard! Don't walk out like that!"

"Lo siento acerca de eso."(1) He said as he wrapped his arms around the other, who blushed as red as a tomato and started to struggle.

In another part of the long circular table was a tall, brunette with some blonde hair in an upward style, green/amber/blue eyes, and a small scar on his upper forehead and a young woman with short, wavy blond hair that touched her cheeks and green eyes was chatting away to the barely responsive man, while the mentions of 'Netherlands' was used by the woman and 'Belgium' by the man.

A young woman appeared through the doors and sighed at the sight of France and England fighting again. The woman has blonde hair that was tied to the side, and blue eyes as she just sat down and read her books, moving up her glasses now and then, barely catching a 'Bounjour, Monaco' from France.

Another part of the table, a man with short, wild blond hair and blue eyes has his arm around another blond with blue eyes with glasses, but unlike the first, the second wasn't so happy about it and shoved him off of him.

"D't to'ch me, Denmark." The bespectacled blonde said as another, smaller blonde with violet eyes seemed a bit nervous.

"Take it easy, Sweden, he was just saying hello."

Sweden looked at the other, who scared him a little because his face was a tad intimidating when he didn't mean to.

"Finland is right, besides, I am the King of all Nordics."

Sweden sighed and tried his best to ignore the other.

When Denmark saw that Sweden wasn't going to be much fun, he looked to see two young men, one with light blond hair with a curl off to the side and dull blue eyes and another ice-white hair and blue-violet eyes. "Hey, Norway! Iceland!"

Norway, the blonde, and Iceland looked up as the man sat next to Norway, who didn't show much expression, along with the other as they listened to the other man talk.

In another part of the table, a dark skinned man with dark brown hair and green eyes which was covered with a white mask, talked to a man with black hair that was covered in a cloth head dress, green eyes, and tanned skin, who mostly grunted his response while the man mentioned about 'Egypt' a few more times before looking over at another young man, who was asleep. "Hey, Greece, wake up!"

Greece is a man with a lighter tan than the barely audible Egypt, with easy brown hair and he opened his eyes a bit to reveal green irises before mumbling about 'Shut up you Turkish bastard' and went back to his nap.

In another table, there was a dark skinned man with dark brown dreadlocks, was talking to no one, but upon closer inspection, there was someone that looked similar to America, but his hair was long and wavy like France with a long curl out from where the hair parts, and holding a polar bear. The darker man often mentioned 'Canada' while the other would respond 'Cuba'.

Other, lesser known nations were either talking among themselves, watching the noisy chaos, or were drifting off to sleep while the arguments continued.

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Called out a tall, muscular man with slicked back blonde hair and light blue eyes as he looked like he had just reached his limit of how the place was going on without any progress to the real issue of the debate, which caused everyone to be silent except for both the Frenchman and the Brit to say 'Germany' at the same time. He then started to lay down the requirements for the nations if they want to present their case and/or opinions. "Now!" He said after he made himself clear. "Who has anything to present in regards to solving global warming?"

This of course started with America mentioning his idea again, which led to the Brit to rudely comment, which lead to the Frenchman to disagree with the both of them, and before another argument erupted it was stopped by the German who scolded the three before telling his opinion to the American's 'unrealistic' proposal.

When the meeting was adjourned, a young man that held some resemblance to Romano, except that the wayward curl was on his left side and a bit above the ear, auburn hair, and eyes that seem to stay closed as he ran up to the tall German to give the man a hug, which he was slightly flustered.

"Germany, when we get home can I make pasta?"

"Sure Italy, you can."

"Ve~!" Italy said as he practically latched himself to the other's arm.

In the meantime, France tried to playfully grope the Brit, who seemed to have enough and caught everyone's attention.

"I have had just about enough of you! This time I will turn you into a frog as you ought to be!"

France just laughed.

"I mean it!" He said as he pointed his index finger at the man. He was only able to shout out two Latin words before the lights started to flicker and the sky started to darken from out of the windows.

"Was there supposed to be a storm today?" Spain asked.

"Of course not, bastard!" Romano shouted as the lights turned off completely. "Chigii!"

"Waah! Germany!" Italy said as he clinged onto the said man closer.

"I-Italy! It's just a black out! Pull yourself together!" He said, only for a bright light to appear in the center of the meeting room, followed by a sudden burst of strong wind similar to a small tornado, making everyone duck and some tried to get out, but found that the doors wouldn't open.

"What the hell is going on!" America called out.

"It's all England's fault!" Shouted France.

"No it wasn't! I barely even started that frog spell!"

America looked to see that the light did resemble a mystical circle. "Looks like your doing though!"

"Bloody wanker!" England shouted as he hazard a look as well and his eyes widened. "That's a transportation circle!"

"A what?" Shouted a woman with light brunette hair with a flower clip in her hair, as she held down a man with dark brown hair, glasses, and was wearing fancy, yet slightly outdated clothes for the modern era.

"Whoever casted that spell is trying to transport something here!"

"So it's like an invasion or something!" Said the woman as she reached to her skirt and brought out a frying pan.

"Hungry!" Said the fancy dressed man. "We don't know what it is!"

"But Austria!" She was going to argue when Italy took a peek as well, despite Germany ordering him down.

"Ve! Something is coming out!" He called out making a few people look and saw that there was a human form appearing in the light before a strong burst of wind made everyone get back down to avoid anything that can harm them before everything was still.

Germany and America looked at one another and nodded as both reached for their pistols and looked to see just what they were dealing with, only to see a jacket and hat, both similar to Germany's back in WWII, lying on the ground, with a body of some form being hidden by the mentioned items.

"The hell?" America said as he got up, along with Germany and Italy went up as the Italian sighed.

"I was really worried it was something scary." Italy said as he immediately went up, which Germany was about to call out, but the Italian was already at the suspicious pile.

Italy went up to the pile and lifted the hat, only to see blond hair. "Waah!" He cried as he jumped back, landing on his rear, and he held onto the hat, revealing to everyone a head of flaxen blond hair shining in the light through the window.

"A kid?" America said as he went up to the kid and was about to place a hand on the child before it stirred. "Hey, you okay?" He asked which the child stiffened and struggled to get up, scooting away. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! We're not going to hurt you." He said as he and a few other nations got a good look at the child.

The child couldn't be no more than eight years old, short blond hair from the back with two hair clips that resemble exactly like the Iron Cross, and the odd wayward curl on over the left ear was suspiciously like the Italian's. The child also had wide, fearful blue eyes, the same kind of blue the German has, as it seemed to be staring at nothing.

"Ve, what's going on?" Italy asked, gaining the attention of the child. "Ve!"

The child then seemed to relax and smiled a little and ran up to the Italian.

"Mamma!" The child cried out as the jacket fell off of the child, revealing that the child is a girl with the white night gown, and collapsed onto the Italian.

"Ve?" Italy said, his eyes widened to reveal honey amber and saw that the girl was asleep.

"What just happened?" America asked.

Germany went up to the child, placed two fingers onto the child's neck and confirmed that the child's heart is still beating. "Call up a hospital." He said as he carried the girl.

"Right." America said as he got his cell phone.

"I already called." England said, snapping his cell shut. "I know a hospital not far from here, the ambulance will be here in less than five minutes."

"Alright." Germany said as he picked the child up from the Italian and, with his free hand, lifted Italy up. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." He said as he looked at the girl in his arms. "She called me 'Mamma'."

"She's just in shock." The German said as he looked down at the girl as well, also noting how the girl is strikingly similar to Italy, but somehow like him as well. "She may have confused you with someone she knows. Someone her age probably couldn't handle something like that…"

"Ve… She's so cute." Italy said, completely over from the earlier events. "I wonder who she is. She sounded a bit Italian when she called out, ve…"

"I'm more curious to where she came from." He said as they made it out of the meeting room, as he was being surrounded by other nations wanting to have a look at the mysterious girl.

After the ambulance took the child away, everyone was at a lost at what they should do. It wasn't everyday a kid appeared out of a magic portal.

"Ve!" Italy said after the sudden silence. "What if no one picks her up!"

"Who cares!" England called. "She's not our problem!"

"Ve, but... She's all alone…"

"Her parents could be one of England's people, who else does that weird magic crap?" Romano said.

"Ve… But then why did she have Germany's jacket and hat…"

"They did look a lot alike…" France said.

"I even noticed that she rooked a bit rike Doitsu-san and Itari-kun…" Japan said.

"That doesn't mean she's our damn problem!" England said.

"I disagree!" America called out. "That kid was sent to us! And as a hero, I'm not gonna leave a poor girl like that alone. She may not even have parents!"

"Enough!" Germany called. "I know all of us are worried about her right now, but the fact of the matter is we have to wait for any word of her recovery, and since we're the ones who was last with her, it's our responsibility to go to her when the doctors tell either of us her condition. And hopefully she would tell us why she's here."

"Doubt it." England said. "If anything she would've forgotten as a defense to whatever may have caused her to act the way she did."

"Germany's right guys." America said in a moment of being completely serious. "We can't do anything until the doctor calls up and we know for sure if she's okay. And until then all of us would go on caring for our own people and issues, but keep in mind that there's a possibility that we're meant to take care of her."

"What?" Was the collective response from the huge room of nations.

"That's crazy, aru!" China chimed. "We're nations for crying out loud, aru!"

"Besides, orphan children isn't a rare thing to us." England pointed out.

"I know that, but isn't there an exception to the rule? What if she's different? She's sent to us guys!"

"It could be random." Hong Kong said, which was rare to hear him.

"Oh you guys!" Taiwan called out. "She's already seen us."

"She was in shock, da ze…" South Korea said.

"I got an idea!" Italy called out. "How about we vote on it in the next meeting?"

"Italy…" Germany was about to say when America showed the same enthusiasm.

"Great idea Italy!" America said as he announced. "Just sleep on it and we'll vote on it around the next meeting, or when we know about her condition, whichever comes first!"

"Rooks we don't have a choice." Japan said.

"Of course we do, we don't agree with it." England said as they filed out of the room.

"Just think about it!" America called out, thus started arguing with the Brit.

Germany sighed, wondering how this day could possibly get stranger.

"Ve, Germany, wouldn't it be strange if she's really our kid."

"Was?" He said.

"It's just that she looked a bit like me but has Germany's nice hair and pretty eyes, and, and…"

He sighed as he mentioned to the car. "Let's just go home."

"Sì!" Italy said as he latched himself to Germany's arm once more. But he looked at the strangely familiar hat. "But I'm still worried about her though…"

Germany sighed as they headed out of the building. He took a look at the jacket that the girl also came with and saw some spatters of blood on it, but he didn't see any on the girl. "I suppose… we can check on her tomorrow…"

Italy looked up at the German and smiled. "Really? Can we check on her tomorrow?"

"To be sure she's okay and all…" He said, blushing at the cute Italian who hugged him.

"Ve! Germany's so nice!"

Germany blushed a bit more as they reached to his car. 'It's only to make sure the girl is okay. Nothing more.'

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Translations:

(1) I'm sorry about that - Spanish (European)

Okay everyone, that's the first chapter. If you liked what you read from this point, feel free to review, but if you want to know a bit more, then go to the next chapter and see if you like how this is going. Remember, I'm only going to upload five chapters to start off. I'm open for any opinions, but I won't do any dramatic changes unless its something about being historically correct or a language correction.

Remember, I dont know a thing about most of the languages I'll use and will be solely dependant of this really good translator site (that isn't from google), and I apologize in advance if you understood the languages and it's wrong somehow.

Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay everyone! Round 2 of the chapters. I looked over this for the last couple of days and found ways to make Fern-Lui a bit more like her age, but still have that slight mental maturity structure, added a few brief look into her past when she thinks about it, got rid of some lines and added some. I also asked someone about Germany and things in relation to WWII and learned that, because of that horrid part of their history, they accepted it but now have a sort of guilt complex where they don't put up their flags unless they're important buildings. So I took that in mind as well, and in a way I knew Germany would still have a self guilt thing going on, but I didn't know about the depth of it until one of my reviewers mentioned it and that led me to asking another person who is German.

So, with a lesson learned and the chapters looked over once again, I hope this would be, at least 2%, better than the first time around.

So, withough further ado, enjoy.

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_Chapter 2: What to Do?_

_It was a quarter to midnight when a low, soft voice of a man woke up both a woman and a child._

_The girl murmured something as the woman got up, still clothed as if they were going on an outing. She looked as both man and woman were talking quietly, but couldn't make out the words as she was about to fall asleep but was picked up by strong hands. She tried to wake up a bit more as she was then moved to the soft embrace of the woman. She was in and out of sleep as she heard the sound of slight panic and concern from the woman and the gruff, commanding one from the man before she was handed back into the strong, warm embrace of the man as they went out into the cold and into the back of the car, where the woman was driving._

_She looked up at the man and her lips moved, only to feel a strong hand on her head, petting her softly as she felt the small vibration of the car revving to life. She heard the man's voice, but she couldn't make out the words as the speed increased to the max._

_She started to feel sleepy again when a loud bang, followed by the sound of glass shattering was heard. She felt fear and panic as she saw the man take out a gun and started shooting as the woman started to talk rapidly. She looked out of the other window to see a car driving up beside theirs and the gun was aimed towards them._

She screamed as she saw that she wasn't in the car, but in a bed in a white room that smelled faintly of bleach. She breathed deeply to calm herself down as she curled up as a nurse came in and was asking her how she was, but she stayed silent and scooted away from the woman. She glared at the woman, who took the hint and walked out of the room, allowing her to curl up once more as she felt around her head, only to look horrified as she couldn't feel what should be on her head. She looked around only to see a window overlooking the outside, snowing. She got out of bed and pulled up a chair to have a better look outside and saw that the whole place seemed to be covered in a white blanket. She got down on to the floor and headed out of the door when a car just pulled up to the parking lot.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Germany drove up to the hospital with Italy, who has a bouquet of daisies and centaureas to give to the girl, as well as the hat that the girl came with.

"Ve! It's nice of England to let us stay at his place for a bit."

"It has been a week since that girl arrived." Germany said, a bit worried about the girl.

"I know! I hope she's okay, ve." Italy said as they walked up to the hospital doors. "Ve, which doctor did England told us to talk to?" He whispered, knowing that only a very chosen few mortals know that they exist.

Germany went up to the desk and asked the clerk there for the doctor and waited for the said doctor to come to them.

"Afternoon gentlemen." Said the doctor as he mentioned them to follow. "She's still asleep at the moment, but she should be getting up pretty soon."

"Anything we should know?"

"We checked, but thankfully she's fully healthy. We're not sure about her health mentally, but we will know as soon as she wakes up."

"Anything else?" Germany asked.

"Well… I did give out a blood sample to see if we could find any record of her, since… what 'he' told me what happened a week ago." The doctor said, referring to England.

"And?"

The doctor shook his head. "Nothing… No record of her at all. It's like she ever existed until a week ago."

"Ve?" Italy said as Germany shared the same surprised look.

"So…"

"I don't know what else to say." The doctor said. "If 'he' didn't explain what happened, I would've expect that she was born but the parents didn't bother registering her into the system." When he finished his explanation, they headed down the hall when the nurse came up.

"Doctor, she's finally awake."

"Really?"

"Yes, but it looks like she doesn't trust anyone. And another thing…"

"And that is?"

"It seems she decided to get out of the room and now all of us are looking for her."

"That isn't good, especially to that child. Who knows what she could've been through…"

"Ve? Can we help?" Italy asked, clearly having a small panic about not visiting the girl.

The doctor looked contemplative.

"When she did arrive, sir, she went up to my friend, mistaking him for someone else." Germany noted.

The doctor sighed before he nodded to accept their help. "I don't know if this is the best thing, but we do need all the help we can get at this point." He said as he and the nurse went one way, leaving the two to decide what to do.

"Ve~ Germany? Where should we go?"

"Give me a second…" He said as he thought back on the hospital layout he saw on their way in. Switching to his commander mode in a search and rescue attempt he looked at Italy. "Her room is on the second floor, north-west wing… she couldn't have gotten far. But if she's quick on her feet, she would no doubt use that to find a hiding place. First of all we have to figure out any places that a small girl would get into…"

Italy was thinking, actually focusing on something other than pasta. "If I was in a hospital and scared of where I was… I would try to find a place where no one can find me. Somewhere dark but not too dark."

"Sounds plausible. Now our next question is where are some places that she can go to?"

"Ve… Germany? Should we split up?"

"We can cover more ground that way…" He said, still in commander mode. "And if you find her, you may attend her trust more than the rest of us."

"Ve, but Germany is a nice guy. She would like you too!"

"Just take that hall and look in the second floor, while I go up the third floor. Let's meet up in her room at about an hour. And her room is 208."

"Yes sir!" He said as he took a few of the flowers and the hat, and gave them to the other man. "Here, in case you find her."

He took the flowers and hat as the other headed down the hall before he headed down the other hall.

0o0o0o0

In the meantime, the girl found a great place to hide as she figured out what to do. Granted the janitor's closet wasn't the genius hiding place, but she found a place to hide in among the unused trash bags. She was a little scared if not lost, as she curled up and wondered if it was safe to head out. She ran her small hand through her hair, which without the clips made her look like Italy.

_She played with a wooden horse with wheels when the man and woman went up to her and gained her attention. She looked up as the man bent down and extened his closed hand to her before opening to reveal the Iron Crosses to her. She looked confused as the woman bent down as she placed the crosses in her hair. She felt around before looking in the mirror the woman brought with her and smiled at her reflection with the crosses on her head._

She bit her lower lip to keep herself quiet as she was on the verge of tears.

Then she heard someone singing just out of the door, but it wasn't just anyone singing. The person was singing an Italian song. Then she saw the door open, she would've sworn she saw the woman in her thoughts and she got up a bit too quick, knocking a few things.

"Ve!" Italy said as he went up and held the girl. "Lei è giusto? Lei si è doluto?" (1) He asked, not realizing he went to Italian, as he looked at the girl, who seemed surprised and placed a hand on his face. "Is something wrong? Do I have something on my face?" Still speaking in his native tongue.

She blinked before shaking her head and looked down at the bouquet of flowers.

Italy remembered the flowers and handed them to her. "Here, my friend and I were visiting you to see if you're okay. I hope you like daisies. I wanted to bring roses, but my friend said it was too much."

She took the flowers and smelled them. "Grazie…" She said softly, making the Italian seem happy.

"Ve! You can speak Italian?

She nodded as she hugged Italy, which the Italian was more than happy to return.

"Ve, let's head back to the room, I think my friend is waiting for us there."

She nodded as Italy carried her out of the closet and headed back to the room, where Germany was heading to see if the other was waiting.

"Ah there you are!" Italy called out in English, making the girl look back and she had the same shocked expression.

To her, she's seeing a man similar to the one walking up to them, only the clothes were old, worn, and covered in dirt and grease. She blinked to see the clean long sleeved shirt and iron pressed dark grey slacks.

"So you found her, huh?"

"Sì, and she speaks perfect Italian!"

He looked at her, who was looking at him and remembered that he has some flowers in his hand and offered them to her. "Qui..." (2) He said, trying the simplest Italian he knows as he took off the hat and placed it back on her head. "Questo appartiene a lei." (3)

She smiled as she gently took the offered daisies and felt around the hat before she gave him a smile. "Danke."

He blinked while Italy made an audible sound of confusion. "Sie sprechen Deutsch?" (4) He asked.

She nodded as she softly added. "I also speak English just fine."

"Ve! That's amazing!"

She nuzzled Italy and smiled. "Grazie… Mr.… Oh! I don't know your name…"

"Ve…" Italy started to say as the girl seemed to realize something.

"Oh… I have to introduce myself before knowing someone else's name." She said as she bonked her head as she smiled. "My name is Fernanda-Luigia Vargas Beilschmidt, but you can call me Fern-Lui, for short…"

"Fern-Lui?" Germany said as Italy smiled his usual clueless smile.

"Ve~! That's such an interesting name!"

She nodded. "Mein vati is Deutsch and mi mamma is Italiana. So my name is both from those…"

"So you're half of both?" Germany asked.

She nodded as she smiled. "You know what my name is, now it's your turn."

The two nations feared this question above all else when the doctor came.

"There you are!" Said the doctor. "Dear me, you like to make everyone worry about you?"

The girl held onto Italy as if asking the Italian to protect her from the doctor as she stared at the doctor unsurely.

The doctor laughed at this. "The important thing is that you're okay."

She broke eye contact with the man and buried her face on the crook of the Italian's neck.

"I see she's warmed up to the two of you."

"Ja…" Germany said, unsure what to do with the situation.

"I have to take you to a room for just a few minutes, then you can be with these two fine gentlemen. Does that sound good?"

The girl shook her head while whimpering, which was muffled by Italy's coat.

Italy looked helplessly at Germany, who was still at a lost to what to do, before he went up and lifted the familiar German military hat to see the scared face of the girl.

"We'll still be here when they're done. They just want to make sure you're okay. You've been asleep for a week."

"Ve? Really?" She said softly as she lifted her head up a bit from the Italian's neck.

' _Ve_?' The German thought, but he thought he was hearing things and nodded. "Ja. And the doctor here wants to make sure you're okay to leave this place."

She looked at the two men. "Will you still be here?" She asked, and at that moment she looked like a sad puppy being taken away from the owner by a vet as she held the rim of the hat, as if the world will fall apart if she let go.

"Of course." Germany said with a reassuring smile, a rare sight to anyone who knows him. "We did come to see you."

She smiled as she was set down on the ground, gave the German's leg a hug before following the doctor down the hall to a room.

"Ve! She's so cute!"

"She is…" Germany admitted as he headed into the girl's, Fern-Lui's, room and took a seat.

"Germany…" He said while looking nervous to ask.

"Hm? What's wrong Italy?"

"Ve… I've been meaning to ask you, but I wasn't sure how to go about it."

"What is it?"

"I was thinking, since she has no family or anything whatsoever… I thought it would be okay to bring her in. You know… take her with us, even though she's mortal…"

The German knew what the other was proposing, and honestly he didn't know if it was a good idea. "I don't know, Italy… It's true that there are times in our life as nations that we co-operate with a certain individual other than our bosses. But this is a child, Italy, when was the last time you heard of a nation taking care and or raising a mortal child?"

"I know that Germany, but…" He looked down casted. "In a way she's like how we started out… Some of us appeared out of nowhere, much like America, Japan, and… that one guy that looks like America, what's his name?"

Germany blinked. "Who?"

Italy waved it off. "Anyway, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of just abandoning her to the orphanage. Especially since she seemed so happy to see us!"

Germany admitted that he had thought about it since that day, and what the doctor said made it clear that they can't just dump her like some mortal parents do to unwanted or unable to care for children. It hurts to see that and he didn't want to see this girl meet the same fate. "I don't like the idea either, Italy."

"So what are we gonna do?"

He sighed. "What else?" He looked at the Italian with a smile. "Our houses are too big for just one or two nations to stay in after all."

Italy smiled and jumped to hug the German, who was flustered, but gave in knowing better.

0o0o0o0

Later the doctor told them that she's well to be checked out that evening, but was concerned about where she would go. When the two men said that they were going to care for her, the doctor hazard to ask if they know how to care children, which Germany said he had more than enough experience as far as Italy was concerned.

After gathering her stuff to the car, Germany placed in a call to England and made the long trek to his home.

"You didn't answer my question…" Fern-Lui said, moving the hat up so that she could see them, as well as the two Iron Cross clips on the hat's rim. "Your names…"

"It's a bit complicated…" Germany said.

"How can telling me your names be complicated?"

"That's the thing, we don't have human names." Italy said.

"Was?"

"It's hard to believe now, but we're personifications of a nation."

"Per-soni-ficat-ion?" She sounded out the word.

"Sì, sì! I'm Italy, but I actually represent the northern part and I have an older brother who represents the south. You'll meet him later."

"And I'm Germany."

"Italia… and Deutschland…" She said as she looked like she was going to say something.

"Don't ask how it was possible, it was like this for as far as we can remember." Germany said, beating her to it.

"So… you guys know everything about what's going on in your countries?"

"More or less. Most of the time we have to physically be there though." Italy said.

She blinked before holding her head. "Now I know how Dorothy feels when she found herself in Oz…"

"Ve! You know that story too!"

She nodded then blinked. "Is there one of America as well?"

"There's one for every nation, even the smallest nations."

She sighed. "Yep… I'm definitely not home anymore." She then looked a bit nervous. "Umm… wouldn't my knowing about you be a bad thing?"

"We talked about that." Germany said. "But neither Italy or I want to dump you in an orphanage. We have witnessed orphaned kids far enough, and you don't have anywhere else to go. And America did say that you were sent to us, whether intended or not for that to happen, you're stuck with us nations."

She blinked as she smiled. "Thank you..." She said as she yawned.

"It's going to be a while until we reach to my house." Germany said, glancing at the girl in the rear view mirror. "So just rest and you'll be in my home by the time you wake up."

She nodded before closing her eyes. 'This is different, but at least I'm not alone, and they're really nice. Just like mein vati und mi mamma.' She thought with a smile before falling asleep.

"Ve, she's really cute!" Italy said. "I'm really happy you decided not to hand her to the orphanage authorities."

"Not like she has anything here to earn that fate." He said, hearing the Italian hum happily. "Was?"

"Germany is really the nicest in the world, both person and nation."

"Except in that war." He said, which the other looked a bit sad.

"Germany… it wasn't your fault. You had no choice…"

"It doesn't mean it can wipe the stain away… that moment in history will always be remembered… Will always be hated for…"

"No one hates you Germany. I never did."

Germany blushed. "You're just too kind hearted…"

Italy smiled as he reached over to place a chaste kiss on the German's cheek, making him blush more than ever. "Germany really is nice."

"I-Italien…" He said, but he smiled as he continued to watch the road as Italy fell asleep.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself? - Italian

(2) Here… - Italian

(3) This belongs to you. - Italian

(4) You speak German? - German


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: First Day_

_Fern-Lui called out when she saw the other gunman, making the man quickly take a shot at the other man, causing the other car to lose control and hit the other car that was behind them._

_"Why where they shooting at us?" She asked in German as she looked up to see the man, who looked exactly like Germany as his light blue eyes seemed to glow with the limited light. She saw the man's lips move, but no sound was made as the woman, her mamma, who did look like Italy, only with long enough hair to put into a pony tail and the noticeable lumps on her chest. She saw her crying and seemed to be whining about something while the man, her vati, seemed to go into commander mode and she was able to drive again._

_After he checked to see if there was anyone else that was after them before he spoke softly to her and she saw her smile and laugh like it was like any normal evening drive. She laughed as well as she felt him hold her tight and she looked up to see him smile, apologetic, but a nice smile nevertheless._

_She leaned against him and felt completely at peace at that moment._

She woke up in a bed and got up to see that she was wearing a large black shirt and giggled, knowing whose shirt must've belonged to. She looked and saw the Iron Cross clips and placed them in her hair, bringing her hair back as she did, the hat back on her head, looked out of the window to see the clean, fresh layer of snow from last night's snow fall, and walked out of the room to see a hallway. She curiously looked around and walked down to find some stairs and went down to find the living room, only to see someone on the couch.

She went up to see that it was a man with silver white hair, which nestled a yellow chick. The chick seemed to wake up in her presence and she waved at the little bird, which lightly chirped and fluttered its way to the bill of the hat. She giggled at this, which seemed to wake the man up a bit and opened his eyes, revealing ruby red irises.

"Kann ya mich etwas wasser erhalten, Westen? Ich habe einen hauptkater jetzt..." (1) He said, which she went around the place and found the kitchen, got the water, and headed back to give to the man. "Danke…" He took a sip of water and got up.

He looked to see the girl and tilted his head. "Eh? Wer sind sie?" (2)

She smiled a bit shyly. "I'm Fernanda-Luigia Vargas Beilschmidt. You can call me Fern-Lui." She said as she lifted the hat up a bit so the man could see her clearly as the chick moved to her right shoulder.

"Fern-Lui?" The man said as he took a closer look at the girl. He blinked as he pinched his cheek, making him wince at the self-inflicted pain. "I'm not dreaming?"

She shook her head as the little bird made chirping sounds.

The man sat there for a moment before getting up. "Would you mind waiting down here?"

"Okay…" She said as she and the chick look at the man's back as he went upstairs. "Looks like I'm gonna make breakfast." She looked up at the chick, who only chirped. "I'm sure Herr Deutschland can explain to him, huh?" Another chirp and she giggled. "You're such a good little bird." She then headed to the kitchen and pulled in a chair to reach the cabinets. "Herr Deutschland and Signore Italia might not want me doing this, but I wanna do something for them." She said as she got onto the chair and looked at the various cabinets.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, the man opened the door to where Germany and Italy were sharing a bed and went over to the left side to where the German was still asleep. He grinned as he crouched down a bit, jumped, and cry out a good morning before falling onto the bed, waking up the German.

"Prussia! What the hell did you do that for!" Germany said, not really happy to wake up the way he did.

The man known as Prussia waved him off. "Well Guten Morgen to you to, West."

Germany sighed as he ran a hand in his hair. "Morgen, what brings you here?"

Prussia pointed out to the door. "There's a girl here."

Germany nodded. "Yes, she's Fern-Lui, she's going to be staying with us for a while."

"Isn't she a mortal?"

Germany sighed. "Remember that event I told you about a week ago?"

Prussia blinked as he looked back at the door. "That's the girl?"

"Ja."

"And she's staying with us… why?"

"Because I decided that." He said as he looked seriously at this older brother. "There's no record of her at all. So there's no reason to simply hand her to the orphanage."

Prussia nodded as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "I mistook her for you when you were little, but she looks like Italy as well."

"Yes, we don't know why but such things happen." He said waving off.

Prussia smirked. "She could be your love child for all I know." He said, which earned him a pillow to the face.

"Es ist nicht wie das." (3) He said as he got up. "So, where is she?"

"Last I saw her she was in the living room."

He nodded as he went up to the closet to find some clothes to wear. "You should change, Bruder, you reek of last night's beer."

"So mean!" He said as he got up. "At least that girl is nice! In fact…" He rubbed his head. "My awesome chick took an instant liking to her."

"That reminds me, I have to feed my dogs."

"You think she would like those guys?" He asked with a teasing grin. "They're huge ya know, especially to a kid her size."

Germany lazily glared at the other. "They're good dogs. Now get out and change, and put your clothes in the hamper!"

"Okay, okay. You can be such a stick in the mud." He said as he got up and headed out of the room to see that Italy was still out like a light. "He's a heavy sleeper."

"He'll be up in a couple minutes." Germany said as he shoved him out of the room.

"Where's the fire?" He said teasingly. "Is it something kinky?"

Germany blushed red as he glared at his brother. "Italien ist mein Freund! Nehmen Sie nicht solche Dinge an!" (4) He said loudly before slamming the door, while his brother laughed as he headed to the room he usually uses when he comes here.

"Ah, Bruder, you're so dense it's hilarious!" He said to himself.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, she heard some commotion upstairs and smiled. "It's like I never left home." She said as the chick chirped. "Hey, can I tell you a secret?" The chick chirped and she smiled. "Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

0o0o0o0

At that moment, Italy woke up as Germany finished getting dressed.

"Ve… I'm gonna make pasta!" He said as he was about to head out when Germany stopped him and mentioned to put clothes on. "Yes sir!" He said with a salute as he looked for his clothes, allowing the German to walk out of his room and sigh.

"That's going to burn in my mind…" He whispered to himself as he now couldn't get the naked saluting Italy out of his mind now. He walked down to let his dogs in, which he saw they immediately went into the kitchen and barked like they would when greeting someone. He went to where the dogs were and saw that Fern-Lui was being welcomed by an overload of kisses from his three dogs: A German Shepherd, a Golden Retriever, and a Doberman. "Absatz!" (Heel!) He ordered, causing all of his dogs to go to his side as the girl laughed and tried to wipe away the slober on her now.

"Guten Morgen!" She said as the chirping of the chick became louder.

"Guten Morgen." He said as he looked at his kitchen and saw some flour on the counter and floor, a large bowl and the oven preset to a certain degree. "You making breakfast?"

"Ja! I'm making bread so we can have it fresh!"

He blinked, can't remember when was the last time he had a simple German breakfast. It was usually pasta or something else the Italian made, he made, or heaven help him his brother. "Need help?" He asked, a bit surprised a child can make bread by herself.

She shook her head. "Nope! I'm almost done with it. But it's going to take a while before the bread is ready."

He nodded. "Well, I'm just going to take care of them, and if you find anything I can help with, let me know." He said as he pointed to the dogs.

"What are their names?"

He pointed to the German Shepherd. "This is Blackie, he's mostly the fun one here, but still very protective." He pointed to the Golden Retriever. "This is Aster, he's a bit of a jokester." He then pointed to the Doberman. "And this is Berlitz, he's a bit serious but also loving."At that moment a dark gray cat came in wearing a ribbon that looks like the German flag and was looking at the girl in a confused sense and looked up at Germany, this was followed by another cat with white and some light brown spots and a curl on the left side of its head. "And the boys who joined us is Lutz (5), and Gino, Italien's cat."

She smiled. "It's nice to meet you all! I'm Fern-Lui."

"We'll be back in a bit." He said as Italy came down and blinked.

"Ve! You're making breakfast?"

"Sì. Fresh bread with either cheese, honey, or marmalade."

"Ve! That sounds yummy!"

"Italy, how about you help her while I take care of these three."

"Okay Germany. Don't be out too long!"

He nodded as he found the leashes and saw his brother heading to the kitchen. "Looks like I keep getting more people here, huh?"

The dogs wagged their tails as he opened the door and was almost dragged out before he gave out a command in German for them to behave once more. He was about to close the door when the two cats darted out. "You two stay out of trouble as well." He said as he checked to see if there was anyone else needed to go out before closing the door. "Now where is Prussia's cat?"

0o0o0o0

About a half an hour later, he walked through the door with the dogs going back into the house and headed to the kitchen, he was going to grab the dog food only to see that their bowls were already prepared for them, but his dogs were looking at him for his permission to chow down. "Essen sie auf." (6) He said as he saw that the oven was on a timer and looked to see the bread was rising nicely and the smell was really good to his senses, before looking at his now clean kitchen and looked for the two nations and the girl, only to find them in the living room, playing a card game.

"Hey! That's so not awesome!" Prussia said as the girl giggled.

"Sorry, but you did say this game is quick."

"Ve~ you two are too fast…"

The girl smiled before she looked up. "Willkommenes Heim, Herr Deutschland!" (7) She said, gaining the other two's attention and looked back to see the German.

"Hey West, how was your walk?" Prussia asked as he threw down a card, earning a whine from the girl and both had a childish spat while Italy seemed clueless of the whole thing.

"It was good." He said, a bit surprised to see everyone behaving when normally his brother would come up with some crazy scheme, which causes him to have a headache. Or Italy would bother him to doing something when he has work, which was an even more of a headache. Speaking of work, he recalled having a big pile of paper on his desk in his office. But that can wait until breakfast is done.

He looked at the three and noticed that the girl was still wearing his shirt as an alternative to pajamas. 'Maybe I should call up Hungry to come over and make some clothes for her. At least until we get out next time to shop.' He thought as he headed to where the phone is.

"Ve, Germany, where are you going?"

"I'm going to make a call to Hungary to see if she can come over."

"Why would you call that woman over!" Prussia said.

"Do you know how to sew a simple dress for a girl?" He said as he pointed to the said girl. "I'm just going to ask Hungary to make a few outfits until Italy and I head out to shop next time. She can't always wear our shirts after all."

"Man, West, you sound like a parent." Prussia said, making the girl giggle.

"Well... I don't mind wearing your shirts, but you need them too…"

"How old are you again?" Prussia asked.

"I'm eight!"

"You're eight? You act a little older than that."

"I get that sometimes." She said with a bit of a blush.

'She even acts like West when he was about this big.' The albino thought, lifting a brow.

"Well, I'm still going to make that call." He said as he walked out of the room.

"If that's the case, I'm going to France's house, I don't want to be anywhere near that woman and that frying pan of hers!"

He sighed as Italy tried to counter argue in the woman's defense as he called her up.

'Either way, this place is going to have another share of unexpected events.' He thought with a sigh. 'Why does this always happen?'

"Hello, Hungary here." Said the woman's voice on the other line.

"Hello Hungary, this is Germany, are you available at the moment? I have a favor to ask."

"Oh? What is it?"

"You know the girl last week?"

"Who doesn't? Why? Is she okay?"

"Ja. I've sort of… taken her in, and I don't really have clothes for a girl so…"

"You want me to come over to make some?"

"If it's not trouble."

"I'll be right there!" She said happily before hanging up.

"That was… easy…"

0o0o0o0

About a half an hour later, Hungary walked up to the door and knocked on it, where she heard a few dogs barking before a German order to make them quiet down was heard in the undeniable tone of the blond German, and the door opened to reveal Germany.

"Thank you for coming at such short notice." He said as he let her in.

"It was no problem. Austria is out to talk to his boss, so I have nothing much to do." She said as she held up a large bag with some cloth sticking out. "Now! Where's the cutie?" Her eyes were shining at the possibility of making dresses for a girl.

"She's with Italy in the living room, which has turned to a studio it seems…" He said, a bit taken aback at the female nation's excitement, as he lead her to the living room, where Italy and Fern-Lui were sitting across from each other, sketch book in each hand and were facing each other as they sketched each other. "Hungary's here, Italy."

Italy looked up and he greeted the woman cheerfully. "Hello Hungary! It's great to see you again!"

"Same here!" She said as she looked at the girl and looked as though when she sees a cute puppy or kitten. "You are so adorable!" She went up and hugged the girl. "Oh! You remind me so much like Italy when he was little!" She then took another look at the girl. "Now stand up, I got to see what I have to do."

Fern-Lui got up, let the woman use the tape measure on her, and saw the woman look thoughtful.

"What's you name sweetie?"

"Fern-Lui, Magyarország." (8)

"Ó! Beszélsz magyar?" (9)

"Igen." (10)

Hungary seemed really happy as she hugged the girl more. "Így holmi!" (11)

"Ve! How many languages do you know?"

"A lot. Mein vati usually has to go to meetings and mi mamma loves to talk to everyone, so I was exposed to every language since the day I was born."

"Ve! That's amazing!"

"That's really impressive , especially for a child your age." Germany agreed.

She blushed as she brought the hat down to cover it. "Danke…"

"Well! Now that we know your wonderful gift of language, let us start getting down to business!" Hungary said as she opened the basket to take out a lot of cloth material, thread, needles, a pin cushion with some pins in there, and other things needed to make an outfit.

"Can I help?" Italy asked as Hungary agreed.

'That will keep him busy for a few hours.' Germany thought as he let everyone know that he was going to work in his office and went there to start doing the paper work.

0o0o0o0

A few hours later, he got at least one-third of the paper work done when he smelled the unmistakable scent of pasta and tomato sauce in the air. 'Lunch must be almost done.' He thought as he timed himself to get at least one paper done before Italy can come in through the door and announced that it was time to eat.

He just finished the one paper when there was a knock on the door and he looked up to see the girl, in a red plaid dress that looked like she was going to school.

"Mittagessen ist bereit." (12)

"Danke." He said as he got up and walked to where the girl is and they just walked to where the dining room is, where Italy and Hungary were talking and finishing up preparing the table. "What are we having?" He asked, knowing that Italy tends to make a different kind of pasta for every meal. He liked all of them of course because Italy makes them homemade, meaning they were fresh from beginning to end.

"We're having orecchiette."

He looked to see the small, almost ear-shaped pasta with chopped basil, tomatoes, and diced nut bits. He only had this once a while back, but anything of Italy's was a work of culinary art.

Lunch was a bit active, which wasn't a rare occurrence since Italy stayed at the German household, but now there's the energetic Hungry and a very interested child. The German often wondered how he ended up with this scenario again when the girl looked his way and smiled, which made him smile as well.

After lunch, he was dragged to the living room by Italy to have a small fashion show with the dresses that Hungary has made for Fern-Lui, who was blushing throughout the whole thing. He had to admit that the dresses looked fitting for a girl, and when the show was over, it was time for Italy's siesta which also became Fern-Lui's siesta as well as both started to undress. Germany was about to object, especially since they have a guest, but Italy undressed to his boxers and Fern-Lui, thankfully Hungary was able to think ahead, in a simple white tank top and panties that seem to poof out. Then both curled up onto the couch, which Hungary took out a camera and took a few shots, declaring that it was the cutest thing she'd seen.

Germany sighed as he found a blanket and placed it over the two, which Hungry took another few shots, and headed back to his office to finish the paper work, allowing Hungry to make herself at home.

0o0o0o0

Soon it was six in the evening and he was done with the last of the paperwork. "This is really odd…" He said as he saw the finished pile of papers. "I'm usually never done…" He thought about the possibility of having the girl around to entertain Italy's whims, thus allowing him sometime to get things done faster and then join them. He got up and see what the two were doing and found Italy making dinner and Hungry making the finishing touches of a skirt. Then he heard a knock on the door and went to open the door to see Austria, mostly covered in snow that started to fall not too long ago.

"Mind if I come in?" Austria said, obviously cold and undoubtedly lost his way to get to his own house.

Germany let him in, also seeing his and Italy's cat dart in and ran into the living room, and announced to Hungary about it, who charged out of the living room and hugged the man.

"Hungary? I didn't know you'd be here." Austria said as he readjusted his glasses.

"Well, earlier Germany called me to do a favor that I was more than happy to do."

"A what?" He said as he looked at the German, who felt that the look was a promise of pain.

"He asked me to make some clothes for his little guest who's staying with him and Italy."

"A guest?" The Austrian asked as he saw the said guest come out of the living room.

"Hallo." She said shyly, dressed in a simple white ruffled top with a dark blue ribbon along the neck line and a dark blue skirt with some ruffles on the bottom hem.

"Isn't she just adorable?" Hungary gushed. "She's like a cute little doll."

"I'm Fernanda-Luigia, Fern-Lui for short. It's nice to meet you, Herr Österreich."

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He said in a monarchy fashion.

"She can speak mine, Germany's and Italy's language!" Hungary said.

"Ve!" Italy walked out to see Austria. "Austria, I didn't know you were coming."

"I came unannounced, Italy." He said as he hang up his coat on a coat hanger.

"Ve, will you join us for dinner then? I made enough."

"Might as well. It looks like the snow storm won't let up anytime soon."

Then the phone rang and Germany grabbed it and answered.

"Deutschland Wohnsitz." (13) He said.

"Yo West! It's your awesome brother!"

"Hallo Bruder…" He said as he talked to him a bit.

"So, Italy, is dinner close to being done?" Austria asked.

"No, it needs another hour." Italy said.

"Very well, I will entertain myself until then." He said as he walked to some part of the house.

"Ve…" Italy said with a tilt of his head while Hungry giggled.

After Germany talked to his brother, who was going to stay with France's place for the night, which he didn't want to imagine what those two would do. 'How is it that they're friends again?' He thought as he looked at Italy and was thankful that at least he was sane enough to have Italy as a friend, even if he did cause more problems than he was worth.

Fern-Lui went up to Germany and tugged on his pants a bit to gain his attention. "Herr Deutschland…"

He looked down at the girl, who mentioned him to come down and bent down so that they were almost eye to eye. "Was ist es?" (14) He asked as he was given a hug.

"Vielen Dank bleibe für Lassen mich hier mit Ihnen und Italia." (15) She said as she looked at the German's blue eyes with her own blue eyes with amber specks.

Germany was touched by this gesture and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her up.

Hungary took the perfect 'parent-child' pictures as she and Italy were gushing over how sweet the sight was, which Germany went red and lost at what to do and Italy hugged the both of them, making Hungary go crazy with the pictures when the sound of a piano was heard.

"He's found the piano." Germany said.

"Let him be, you got to see the other outfits I made for her!" Hungary said, eyes sparkling.

0o0o0o0

And soon dinner was ready and everyone gathered around the table. Hungary brought her camera out to show Austria of the outfits and acting like a grandmother showing off to the other relatives about her grandchild. Both Germany and Fern-Lui didn't know what or how to talk to the woman to take it easy while Italy was no help, acting like a doting mother as he constantly kept hugging the girl and calling her cute.

Even with all the things going on Fern-Lui smiled just as much as Italy and enjoyed everything that went on until Hungary and Austria headed out of the house to return home. They looked for the girl and found that she was asleep with the dogs, arms wrapped around Aster, and Gino as Lutz looked on at the sleeping group, which Italy took a picture before Germany took her upstairs, dressed her for bed, took the clips off and noticed that they were worn, chipped, and there was a possible dent in that could've been caused by a bullet, placed those aside with a wonder of the significance, and tucked her in, which the animals entered and made themselves comfortable.

"Aren't you quick to warm up." He said to them, which was responded with all three tail wags and Gino's 'venyaa' as he shut off the light. "Gute Nacht."

"Gute Nacht… Vati…" She said sleepily, not aware of what she said, making the German blink and blush before walking away from the door, and headed to his own, where Italy was already there and saw his face.

"Ve, Germany, what's wrong?"

"She called me 'Vati'."

"Is that bad?" Italy asked, knowing what it means, but not sure if the man liked it or not.

He shook his head. "No, it's just unexpected…"

Italy smiled as he mentioned the other over, who just blushed a bit more knowing that the other was naked in the bed but went to his side of the bed anyway. "Germany would make a great dad."

"I-Italy!" He said, not really assured. "What would make you think that!"

"Cause Germany is really nice and strong." Italy said as he wrapped his arms around the other, causing him to blush. "And you've always looked out for me when others would give up a long time ago. Remember those times I was captured back in World War II? I kept being sent back because they couldn't handle me anymore. But Germany never did that. Germany helped me time and time again." He kissed the man's cheek and smiled. "Even though I'm useless in ways of fighting, you never abandoned me."

Germany was touched by the other's words as he did recall a lot of things that happened at that moment of time, both good and bad. He smiled a rare smile that only comes up when Italy was around him like this. "Go to sleep Italy. We still have a lot of time before the next meeting."

"Oh! I better tell America that we don't have to do the voting thing, since there's no way we're getting rid of her. And today wasn't that bad."

"Only one day Italy. We still don't know why she's here or what happen before she arrived here."

Italy nodded, having a rare moment of understanding what was going on. "Do you think her parents are…?"

"We can't be sure just yet." He said, also thinking of the possibility, but for the girl's sake he can't think of that.

"Ve, if her papa is anything like Germany, then I'm sure he and her mamma are okay."

He smiled as he nodded. "We better get to sleep Italy, who knows what tomorrow may bring." He said as he shut off the light and settled in bed, only for the other to curl up close to him. He looked at the Italian a bit longer before he closed his eyes when he heard the door opening. "Fern-Lui?" He whispered as he got a whimper as a response.

The girl, wearing a plain white night gown that Hungry made, walked to Germany's side, tear stains evident in her eyes and she was followed by the other three dogs and two cats

"Was ist falsch?" (16)

"Schlechter Traum…" (17)

He petted her head and asked if she wanted to sleep with him and Italy, which he got a nod and picked her up and placed her in-between him and Italy, which she curled up against Italy and Italy wrapped an arm around her. He couldn't help but smile and the admittedly cute sight as he fell asleep.

Sometime in the night Germany turned to his side and wrapped an arm around both the girl and Italy and stayed like that till morning, when Prussia came home and was about to wake up his little brother, but stopped to see, to him, the awesomely cute sight that was rare for his brother and knew that if he caught this picture, he could bribe Hungry from not hitting him. He found a camera and took the shot and deemed it perfect and worthy of his awesomeness.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Can ya get me some water, West? I'm having a major hangover right now... - German

(2) Eh? Who are you? - German

(3) It's not like that. - German

(4) Italy is my friend! Don't assume such things! - German

(5) pet form of Ludwig; famous warrior - German

(6) Eat up. - German

(7) Welcome home, Mr. Germany! - German

(8) Hungary - Hungarian

(9) Oh! You speak Hungarian? - Hungarian

(10) Yes - Hungarian

(11) So cute - Hungarian

(12) Lunch is ready - German

(13) Germany residence - German

(14) What is it? - German

(15) Thank you for letting me stay here with you and Italy. - German + Italian (Italy)

(16) What's wrong? - German

(17) Bad dream… - German


	4. Chapter 4

Just so you guys know, this chapter used to be in three parts, so it's a bit long.

* * *

_Chapter 4: Nations's Party_

A week passed and the unusual "family" were getting ready to head out.

Germany was in his ironed down grey suit as he adjusted an olive green tie as he looked at the time. "What could take Italy so long?" He said to himself as he was giving the Italian thirty seconds before he calls out.

At the same time, Italy was debating which dress shirt to put on. He looked at his nice black silk dress shirt that would go great with his blue tie, but there was also the nice crisp white shirt he got the other day that he didn't have a chance to wear, but feared it would get stained.

"Italy!"

He slightly jumped when he heard the German's voice from down the hall. "Almost ready!" He called, only for the man to enter the room anyway.

"What is taking you so long?" Germany asked, looking at the two nice shirts on his bed.

"I can't decide to go with black or white with this tie."

Germany sighed as he picked up the black shirt and handed it to the Italian. "This one, in case the white one gets stained. There will be another time for that one."

"Ve, thanks Germany!" He said as he placed the shirt on.

"Have you seen Fern-Lui?"

"She hasn't come down yet?"

Germany shook his head as he went out to locate the door where the girl was staying. He knocked on it and asked if the girl was okay.

"Ja! Just looking for my other hair clip!"

"Mind if I come in?"

"I don't mind!"

He entered and saw the girl, wearing a red velvet holiday dress with a white ribbon around the waist and tied to a nice bow in the back, was going from one corner of the room to the next, causing a bit of a mess in her wake, but going back to straighten. "Everything okay?"

"Nein… I can't go anywhere without both of my hairclips." She said as she pointed to the one Iron Cross hairclip.

"Is it important?"

"Very." She said as she looked like she was close to tears.

"Okay, okay, I'm sure they're somewhere…" He said as he whistled to get his dogs to enter the room. "Mind if I see that other clip?"

She handed her other hair clip, which has the bullet dent, to him as he gave a command to the dogs to sniff and search for the hair clip.

Italy walked out of the room and saw the dogs sniffing on the ground before looking at Germany and Fern-Lui. "What's going on?"

"She's missing her other hair clip." Germany said as he held up the first of the two clips.

"Oh." Italy said as he looked to see that the girl was slightly flustered at the thought of missing the second clip.

Then the dogs started barking and the trio went to see that the dogs were at the couch.

"Good boys." Germany said as he felt around the couch before he felt something and pulled it out to find the missing hair clip.

"Yay!" Both Italy and the girl cheered as the girl hugged the dogs and saying praises in both German and Italian before the man gave her back her hair clips.

"Thank you so much!" She said as she placed both hair clips in her hair. "I'm ready now."

"Ve~ You look so pretty!"

"Grazie, Signore Italia."

"I've been meaning to ask you about those clips." Germany said. "I noticed that they're chipped." Which was partically true.

She touched the one without the bullet dent. "This is from mein vati who got these from his opa after begging forever." She then touched the one with the bullet dent. "And this is from mi mamma who got it from mein vati as a symbol of their friendship, then as a symbol to let everyone know that they're together, and then saved her from being killed when she was in labor with me."

Germany blinked a few times, seeing the happy smile on the girls face as she touched the clips with such delicatecy as if they were made of glass.

"Mein vati wielded the bobby clips, so that I could have something of theirs when I'm not with them. I feel protected and not so lonely."

"I-I see…" He said, having a bit more consideration of the crosses now that he knew the history behind it.

"Ve~ I got something similar from Germany too!"

Germany remembered that moment as the girl looked at Italy.

"Really?"

"Sì! It symbolizes our friendship and that we back each other up when we're in a pinch. Though Germany saved me every time after that."

The girl laughed. "That's the same thing with Mamma before she and vati married!"

Germany looked at the clock and made a mental calculation before he cleared his throat and calmly told the two to head to the car, while also letting Italy know that he's not driving.

"Ve! This is so exciting! You'd get to meet everyone!" Italy said as he started to explain each and every nation, Germany would add a few bits of warning of some of the nations, France and Russia especially.

x0x

A few days earlier, Germany was in his office getting his paperwork done in the late morning, which was a record for him, when the phone rang at his desk. He knew Italy and the girl were out shopping for some pasta supplies and took the dogs with them, and his brother was out who knows where, possibly getting drunk off his ass. "Deutschland sprechend."(1)

_"Hey Germany!" _America called out excitedly, causing the German to get the phone away from his ear from further damage of his eardrums. _"How's it going!"_

"I'm doing well, thank you." Germany said calmly as he checked his paperwork before him. "What brings you to call?"

_"Well! Since all of us know that the girl, Fern, right? Is staying with you and Italy, I figured it's time for all of us other nations to get a chance to know her too!"_

"Her name if Fern-Lui, and are you suggesting that you're holding up a party soon?" Germany asked, since this wasn't the first time is ex-enemy-now-sort-of-acquaintance-but-not-full-on-friend did this out of the blue.

_"How'd you know?"_

"You've done this kind of thing before." He said bluntly. "And when will it be?"

_"You're gonna go?"_

"May as well, Prussia, Hungry, and Austria have already met her as well. And it's not like she doesn't know about us anyway. Besides, I know you'll talk to Italy about it and he'll definitely want to go."

_"He still has you under his thumb, huh?"_

"America…"

_"I'm just saying…"_ The American said with a laugh. _"Well great! I really would like to meet this girl, I talked to England, who argued with France, who heard from your brother about her. She sounds like a sweet gal."_

"She is, she can easily keep up with Italy better than I do." He said, hearing the other laugh.

_"Getting work done I bet?"_

"At a record pace." He said as he couldn't help but grin. "So, when is this party you're planning?"

_"Thanksgiving."_

"Was! That soon!"

_"Don't worry I let everyone else know ahead of time. And it's a pot-luck, so bring something to the party! It's going to be a World Buffett!"_

"Who else is helping you plan this?" He asked as he rubbed his eye lids and pinched the bridge of his nose from the on-coming headache.

_"I know Japan was on board with it because he likes to cook, and I asked England but only with the décor and table setting, so he's nowhere near the kitchen. And with Japan's creativity and England's help with his imaginary friends, the place will be ready for everyone to set up and display their best dishes."_

"You sound pretty organized, America."

_"Nah, not really, I just asked these guys to help and they pretty much do the whole thing."_

Germany rolled his eyes from the blunt honesty of the American. "Where is this held?"

_"Where else? The World Conference room back in England's place!"_

"Okay… And time?"

_"Well… Knowing how everyone is gonna be like when they arrive here, have time to cook, and set up… Be here around one or something."_

Germany wondered if America doesn't like to admit that he does get organized sometimes, but dropped it and agreed to go, earning another almost eardrum busting cheer and that was the end of the conversation.

x0x

Back at the present, Germany kept his eyes on the road while Italy was singing something about pasta and the girl was looking out of the window, as if seeing the outside world for the first time.

"Ve~ Fern-Lui, do you know any songs you like to sing?"

Fern-Lui looked at Italy and smiled. "I do know a few songs…" She said.

"Can we hear them? I'm sure Germany would like to hear too."

Germany blushed as he cleared his throat. "Only if you want to Fern-Lui."

She giggled as she thought up a song and started to sing.

"_Accept me like this. Please don't look._

_In my head there is a world you must ignore._

_I want you to be my discreet accomplice._

_Accept me and you will be my silk doll."_

_She hummed a bit before continuing._

_"Accept me and you'll see we'll go till the end._

_Don't think about what's right and about what is changing._

_We'll go to the North Pole or to the South if you want._

_Please accept me, tell me that you can do it._

_I've never said that I am perfect._

_Then I'm the one helping you discover my every fault._

_If you find even more, it's still okay._

_It's enough to stay together like this._" (2)

"Ve~! That's very nice! Isn't it nice? I thought it was so cute!"

The girl blushed, but she smiled just as widely as Italy as Germany agreed that the girl's singing was very nice, pleasant even.

"Grazie… Mi mamma would always sing that song to both me und Vati." She giggled. "Vati would always blush when she sings the rest of the song, but he's happiest when Mamma sings. And I would sing to Vati when Mamma isn't around when he looks a bit sad."

"Ve~ Sounds like they're really in love." Italy said as he had a dreamy look.

"We're here." Germany announced as he parked in the lot in front of the building.

"Looks like everyone else has arrived early." Italy said as he helped the girl out of the car.

Germany went to the trunk and pulled out two pots and carefully balanced them as he walked.

"Ah! Let me help you Germany!" Italy said as he grabbed one of the pots.

"Thanks Italy." He said as both men watched the girl walk around in the snow, giggling happily at her footprints.

"We better head inside then, who knows how everyone is holding up." He said, imagining the chaos that is probably going on at the moment.

They walked to where they saw the open door with sounds of the rising chaos that would take place.

0o0o0o0

Much earlier before their arrival, the other nations were setting out their hard worked dishes onto the set up tables and some were chatting and side arguing to pass the time as they set up.

America laughed as he finished his display of small sliders on his assigned spot on the long table.

"You cannot be serious, America!" England called out, as he finished his display of tea and scones, causing some to worry. "You cannot be planning on feeding a healthy young lady with even a bite of those heart attacks waiting to happen!"

"Hey! I got most of the fat and extra grease out! This is Germany we're talking about here! And since the kid is in his care, it's my head he'll be after if I don't do a few changes for the today only dish."

England blinked. "You're actually being considerate of your health?"

"Most of my people are being health conscious now and it's rubbing off on me." America admitted as he looked at the scones. "But look at you, you're going to practically food poison her with your scones."

"My scones are not awful, you bloody git!"

"I'm afraid that I have to agree with America on this one, mon ami." France said as he had his display ready with every kind of bite sized sweets stacked on top of one another to create an Eiffel Tower while it was surrounded by rose petals. "Your food isn't well known to be even a bit decent. At least America's food is able to not allow the person to get nightmares and see things."

"You stay out of this you frog!" England said as an argument came up.

Canada set his stack of pancakes next to France's and sighed. "Oh you guys…" He said, but as usual no one listened or realized he was there.

"Aiyaa…" China said as he set a few bowls of noodles and vegetables that he cooked up in his handy wok while there was a basket of sweet treats. "Are those two arguing again?"

"They like to do that a lot…" Taiwan mentioned as she had hers set her plates down, Hong Kong also set up next to hers.

"Oh let them! As long as they don't bother us, da ze!" Korea said as he tried to reach over to China, only for the targeted nation to dodge in time.

"I don't see why we have to come, Брат…" Belarus said as she set her food next to Russia's, a bit too closely. (3)

"Well, I'm curious about this girl that Germany has taken in. She must be quite impressive." Russia said, a bit nervous because of his younger sister eyeing him possessively.

Belarus didn't seem to like the idea of her brother wanting to see some small mortal child that her ex-enemy has taken in. She had plans to propose to him for weeks, and today was just ruining it for her. She didn't see anything special other than the girl popped out of the English bastard's magic circle things. She was even uncomfortable at everyone else being excited to see the girl.

Have these nations gone mad?

"Oh! I hope the girl likes the fresh milk I brought with me." Ukraine said as she seems to start crying at the possibility of the child not liking milk at all.

'Even старшая сестра has gone insane with this…' (4)

The Baltic Trio: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, seemed a bit nervous about the Russian getting anywhere near the poor girl, while also not being sure what the girl could possibly like.

Poland was redecorating his table spot to be pink and set his snacks on them. "Yep! There's no doubt that she'll love this!" He said as he sported a short, baby blue plaid skirt and white dress blouse, but he was really nervous of meeting the girl.

"Er… Poland…" Lithuania said looking at the Polish man's dress attire. "She may mistake you as a girl…"

"So? Like, if she does, I'll just, like, tell her I'm a guy. It's not like a big deal."

The Lithuanian sighed, knowing that reasoning was hopeless when it came to his friend.

"This is so exciting!" Finland said as Sweden made a sound of agreement. "But I'm also a bit nervous about her not liking the things we made."

"If she'd don' like 't, den we'd know." Sweden said as he watched Sealand going up to Iceland, only to have Norway politely tell him to go away and went over to Latvia instead. "You'd 'ink Sealand wo'd get along wit da girl?"

Finland looked at their adoptive son and wondered about that too. "Hard to say… I heard she's only eight years old… And Sealand looks to be about twelve. But we'll just see…"

Sweden made a sound of agreement and finished setting up his display of his snacks.

Greece was taking a nap near his set up table, the cats crawling all over him and one tried to steal one of the display foods when Turkey went over and snatched the cat up.

"Greece! Wake up! The point of having a display is so that it wouldn't be eaten up before the guest arrives!"

The other lazily glared. "Put him down, bastard."

"Not until you can keep these cats away from your food so that there would be something for the girl to eat. Then again she might not even like your food."

Greece went up and seemed to be ready to fight when Japan, reading the atmosphere, went up to the two and calmed them down.

"Prease both of you, can you settre your disputes for another day? We do have a young guest and I don't think seeing the two of your argue is the best way to present yourserves."

Greece and Turkey immediately calmed down and Turkey handed back the cat to the other and went to talk to Egypt, who didn't say much.

"You know how to calm people down, Japan."

"Oh no, I simpry read the atmosphere and knowing the situation." He said as he finished setting up his display, which was various different sushi. 'I hope she rikes at reast one of these…' He thought as he made some onigiris to pass the time.

"This is pretty exciting, don't you think Romano?" Spain asked as he finished setting up his table and watched as the other Italian was just finished with his signature tomato sauce just in time as the pasta being ready to be eaten.

"I think this is a waste of time!" He said as he took a taste of his tomato sauce. "If this kid really is half of those damn potato bastards, she may not even like pasta."

"Oh don't be so harsh on her because of that." Spain said. "You never know, she may even like tomatoes as much as you."

"Doubt it. But since she is a girl, I'll be easy on her. But I won't get my hopes up."

Litechstien looked at Switzerland and saw that the man seems nervous as he looked at the display of chocolates he made much earlier when America called about the party. "I'm sure she would love your chocolates, Bruder." She said with a gentle smile.

Switzerland sighed as he was looking at the display again. "No doubt, but you never know with these kids, they can like a certain kind of chocolate."

"You're worrying too much, I'm sure she'll like all of them."

"Hungary, would you please settle down."

"Oh but I've been wanting to see her since the last time I saw her!"

"You saw her a few days ago…" Austria said as he was reading a book. His table space didn't have anything on it while it looked like Hungary went on a baking rampage.

A few others were also a bit nervous about what the girl would like and whether or not England would take the scones out of the room and just leave the tea there before the guest arrives, but the mentioned Englishman was continuously arguing with France, who seemed to enjoy annoying the other as usual.

Then the present moment arrived when the trio looked from the hall to the room of the nations in their chaotic activities.

0o0o0o0

Fern-Lui and Italy smiled at the energy going around.

Germany sighed as he expected as much from such a large group of nations.

"Oh hey Germany!" America announced loudly. "Hey Italy! What's happen'?" This gained everyone's attention as the room stilled to silence.

"Hey America! Did we miss anything?" Italy called out, not realizing that everyone was looking their way.

"Nah, just the usual thing we do." He said as he went over to the three and looked at the girl who looked surprised and partly hid behind Italy, but still looking out at the personified nations. "So you're the little lady who knows about us nations."

She blinked before coming out shyly but with a smile on her face. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. America."

"Same here!" He said as he mentioned the three in. "Come on in! We're waiting for you after all."

And, in eagerness of the Italian, the cautiousness of the German, and the excitement of the girl went into the room to meet the nations as the two nations placed the pots down on an empty spot, and once they were where all the nations could see the girl clearly, the girl curiously looked around at the taller nations.

"So, since you're here, would you like to introduce yourself?" America suggested as she blushed but nodded.

She started to hum, which seemed to gain some confidence from before singing.

_"Draw a circle, that's the Earth._

_Draw a circle, that's the Earth._

_Draw a circle, that's the Earth._

_My name is Fernanda-Luigia._

_Draw a circle, that's the Earth._

_Stare awhile, that's the Earth._

_Should that be the Earth._

_You can call me Fern-Lui._

_Ah~ The wonderful world you can see with just a stroke of a brush!_

_I am half German and Italian, but I know lots of languages!"_

The whole room seemed to be a lot lighter as some girls awed at the cute song she sang.

"That's so cute." America admitted as he looked at the two. "Hey Germany, you didn't tell me she's a cute singer."

"I just learned that today…" Germany said as he blushed lightly.

"Oh! You're truly are adorable!" France said as he swooped her up and hugged her.

"F-France!" Germany said as he saw that the girl was at a complete lost for a moment.

"I can't breathe! Take it easy on your hugs please!" She called out, which the other responded.

"I'm sorry, mon cher, I'm just so overtaken by how cute you are that I don't know my own strength."

She smiled. "C'est bon, juste se souvenir de ne pas me tenir si tendu la prochaine fois."(5)

"Oh! Vous parlez du français ?" (6)

"I speak a lot of languages." She said with a giggle. "May you please let me down, I'm sure everyone else would like to carry me for a moment."

"Mais, mon cher, je veux vous tenir un peu plus long." He said as he hugged her close. (7)

"I know, but you'll have another chance. Pretty please?" She said as she tilted her head to the side and smiled.

"Oh alright! For now I'll share." He said as he placed her down.

'She saved herself from France's clutches!' Everyone thought, each one knowing the nation far too well to let anyone go without some form of molesting. But the girl only got off with an innocent hug, a rose that France seems to carry around, and gave her one of his treats before she took a few bites of the pancake, much to the Canadian's relief and even noticed him, before Cuba came up and gave her a small scoop of his ice cream and she enjoyed it as she drifted over to Hungry.

'Looks like she used her cuteness and overly polite gesture to somehow control France to doing what she says.' Germany thought, having one thing less to worry about. 'And France's weakness is over dulgance of cute.'

"Ve~ I'm so glad everyone is getting along with Fern-Lui." Italy said.

'Now I have to be sure France doesn't get close to Italy.' Germany thought as he nodded in agreement.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Fern-Lui was being hugged and took a bite of Hungary's treats before meeting up with Austria, who mentioned that his were not quite ready. She lifted his spirits that it was okay and would probably taste the best because it was the last out.

She took a bite of America's sliders, which Germany nearly chewed out the American as he explained quickly what he told England not too long ago and moved to where Italy was, talking to someone similar to Italy.

"Signore Italia…" She said as she tugged on his pants a bit, gaining his attention.

"Ve! Fern-Lui!" Italy happily said as he picked her up. "How are you enjoying this?"

"It's a load of fun! Everyone is really nice."

"That's good. Have you met Romano and Spain yet?"

She shook her head and looked at the older Italian and the other known as Spain.

"Hola allí I'm Spain." (8)

"Es agradable encontrarle, Señor España." (9)

"You really do know your languages."

"Grew up with them really."

"You still hungry?" Romano asked, a bit wary about the girl.

She nodded as she looked to see that the display is spaghetti with heavy tomato sauce. "That looks really good!" She said as she was given a serving and hummed in pure content. "Soo good…" She sighed with a huge smile on her face.

"You like tomatoes, huh." Romano said as Spain was amused by this.

She nodded. "I love them. Mamma and Auntie makes them all the time, but the tomatoes don't grow the way they want them too."

"How do you like the sauce then?" Spain asked, knowing that Romano worked hard on the sauce alone.

"Fantástico! I can taste the love and care in the making of the sauce."

Romano blushed as he looked away. "Glad you like tomatoes so much."

"We got a lot of tomatoes left if you want to take them home." Spain offered.

"We just got tomatoes not too long ago, but we would like to take a few in case we get hungry going back to Germany's house." Italy said.

"You're still staying with that macho potato, Veneciano."

"Yes, fratello, you're welcome to visit as well."

"As if I want to step foot in that place."

"Don't be like that, Romano…" Italy said, a bit down.

"Be nice to your brother, Romano, plus Fern-Lui is half German. You can't really be mean to her too…"

"That's because she's more Italian than German…" Romano said before eyeing her, who seemed a bit sad, and he doesn't like to see a girl sad, no matter what age. "But if you would like some authentic tomatoes from us, let us know and we'll drop by…"

"Really?" Both Italy and Spain said as Fern-Lui seemed a bit happy to hear that.

"But only to drop off the tomatoes, I'm not going to spend a minute in that place."

The girl smiled as she got down from Italy and hugged Romano's legs. "That'll be great, Signore Romano." She said as she looked up at the other Italian before he bent down and hugged her.

"You're lucky you're cute." He said, making her giggle as Spain had a turn holding her as well.

"I remember when Romano was your size, but he hardly ever lets me hold him like this."

"Shut up Spain!" He said, face red as a tomato.

"Ciao!" Called out another Italian that looked a bit like the Italies, with the hair curl, but it was a bit angled while the Italies were a smooth curve, the skin complexion that is between North Italy's fair complexion and Romano's slightly olive one, and green eyes. "I'm Seborga."

"I'm Fern-Lui, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said as Seborga grabbed her hand and gave it a kiss, making her blush.

"You truly are adorable!" He said as he presented a sweet treat. "For you, a sweet for a sweet."

She giggled as she accepted the offer and enjoyed it as well before she headed to where Japan is, who was talking to Greece and America.

Greece noticed her and pointed it out to Japan, who turned and smiled politely.

"Konichiwa, I'm Japan, it's nice to meet you."

"同様にあなたに会うとはうれしいことで、日本氏." She said with a bow. (10)

Japan was a bit taken back by the perfect pronunciation of his language as America laughed.

"She did say she know a lot of languages."

"Werr, would you rike to try something?"

She nodded as Japan gave her an onigiri and took a bite. She hummed in content as she took another few bites, having some rice bits on her face.

Japan was very touched to see the girl enjoying one of his onigiris.

"May I also try the salted tuna?" She asked as she finished the onigiri.

"Of course." He said as he handed her some chopsticks. "Do you know how to hord these?"

She nodded. "I know how." She said as she held the chopsticks and picked up the tuna and ate it easily. "This is good too!"

"I'm preased to hear that." He said, finding the girl too cute.

One of Greece's cats went up to the girl and leaned up against her leg, gaining her attention and pets it.

"Hello kitty." She said as she looked to see more cats joining her. "Wow, you got a lot of cats… um…" She looked up at Greece, who smiled and bent down to her level.

"I'm Greece. It's nice to meet you."

"Ίδια εδώ ο κ. Ελλάδα. Are all these cats yours?" (11)

"Yes… Do you like cats?"

"I do. I also like dogs as well."

Greece nodded. "I'm okay with dogs as long as they don't chase my friends around."

"I understand." She said as one cat managed to crawl its way to the top of her head. "How did you get up there without me noticing?" She said with a laugh.

"They seem to like you too." He said as he brought down his dish and handed to her. "Here, it's something I've made."

"Thank you." She said as she took a bite of it. "It's a bit hot, but it's great."

"I'm sorry, I thought it would be cooled down enough."

"No harm done." She said as she shared some pieces to the cats, after she blew on the pieces.

Greece smiled at the generous girl as she also has a few bites while she was sharing.

Soon she heard some kind of dispute going on with the Englishman and the Frenchman. "Thank you for the food. But I would like to introduce myself to the other nations."

"Okay, but be careful." Greece said as the girl nodded.

"I will." She said as she petted a few cats before seeing that America has talked to the two to 'cool it', and met with a boy who is just a head taller than her.

"Hi, I'm Cyprus." The boy said. He as a dark olive complexion, short yet slightly curly dark brown hair, and brown eyes.

"Hello Cyprus, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said as she tried a small dish and made her kind comments about it.

"I'm glad you like it, my brother and I tried our best to make it."

"Your brother?"

"Yeah, his name is Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, TRNC for short."

She looked to where Turkey was and saw a boy about her height wearing something similar to who she believes is Turkey without the mask. "How come he's not here presenting the dish you two made?"

"Because Greece downright hates him because he looks up to Turkey. Then again he wouldn't be here if it weren't for Turkey…"

"Must be hard to be torn like that…"

The boy shrugged. "It's not all bad, we still talk. It's just when Turkey and Greece meet is when things get bad."

"I see…" She said. "Thank you for your dish." She said as she saw the boy blush a bit before laughing a bit nervously.

"No problem." He said and she made her way to Turkey's spot.

"Well now, I thought that you wouldn't come around." Turkey said.

"There's a lot of nations and only one of me, sir…"

"Where are my manners? I'm Turkey, and the quiet guy next to me is Egypt."

Egypt looked up before going back to reading.

"And this little guy is-"

"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, or TRNC. Cyprus told me." She said making the nation chuckle as she bowed. "Bir lezzetle karşılamak." She said as Turkey handed her a sampling. "Thank you." She said as she took a bite and smiled. "This is good Turkey, though the seasonings a bit strong for me." (12)

"I'm sorry, I forgot that children could only handle a certain level."

"No, it's fine as it is." She said as she finished the dish. "Thank you for sharing."

"Not at all! I'm glad to hear you like it."

She looked at the child and smiled. "The dish you and Cyprus made is good as well. Thank you."

The boy blushed and mumbled 'you're welcome' to her.

She went up to Egypt and smiled. "Mind if I have a taste of what you've made?"

Egypt nodded as he gave her a dish for her to try and was met with the same praise, making him blush.

(13)"شكرا لتقاسم ."

"يسرنا أن نرحب بكم " He said quietly. (14)

She gave him a bright smile before moving onto Poland's table, while the nation was talking to Lithuania, at first she thought Poland is a woman, but then heard the voice, which she knew is male. "Excuse me…" She said, gaining the other two's attention.

"Oh hi there!" Poland said as he bent down to gather her in his arms. "Oh you're just, like, as cute up close! I'm Poland!"

"Przyjemność spotkać was pan Polska. You seem to be having fun." (15)

"Sure am! Even more so, like, now that you're here. And don't be, like, so formal." Poland said as he grabbed one snack and handed it to her. "Try this, it's, like, one of my faves!"

She did and smiled. "I can see why. They're good."

"I know, right!" He said as he hugged her. "I can tell we're, like, going to get along so well!"

She giggled as she hugged back. "Me too!"

"Aww!" Poland gushed as he seemed like he was never letting go of her anytime soon if not for Lithuania meekly interrupting them and handed his dish to the girl.

She took a bite, smiled and took another bite, making the Lithuanian smile.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Germany was keeping an eye out for both Italy and Fern-Lui. 'So far she's doing a good job not making anyone feel uncomfortable, and Italy is safe with Hungry…'

"Doitsu-san?"

He looked to see Japan. "Oh, Japan, how are you?"

"I'm werr, I quite enjoyed Rui-chan's company not too rong ago."

"Yes, I saw that. Even Greece seems to like her. I know his cats do."

Japan nodded his agreement. "It seems she has nothing bad to say about the food she's tasting."

"If I know anything from Italy, is that his taste buds are just as acute as France's, but it seems she's more culturally acceptive to different tastes."

"Werr put. She even picked up that Toriko-san(Turkey)'s spices were a bit strong for her, but it was manageabre for her at the same time."

"I just hope she doesn't eat England's scones." He said as he looked at the still untouched plate of scones. "Why did he have to make those?"

"I am not sure…" Japan said honestly, also a bit worried about the girl's safety towards the possibility of having a bad food reaction with England's cooking, or lack of it.

"Then there's Russia…" He said as he looked at the said nation, sitting there innocently while Belarus hovers around like a bad omen.

"Yes… but this party was for her to get to know the nations and vice versa."

"Ja…"

"Is that why you're keeping an eye out for her?"

"Her and Italy. I still don't trust France with either of those two alone."

"Understood." Japan said as he looked at the time and seemed a bit surprised. "Ah, Doitsu-san…"

"Yes Japan?"

"It's almost three."

Germany looked up at the clock and sure enough it was ten to three and he looked to see that the two Italies were at the corner of the room, Spain included, while America is on guard, and looked to see that Fern-Lui was on Russia's lap, asleep. 'This can't get any worse!' He thought in horror as he was about to walk over to retrieve her, only to stop to see that Russia had asked Belarus for her apron, even so far as gave her a warning tone when she was about to protest, and used that apron as an alternative blanket. But he still went up, casually this time as everyone started to quiet down.

Russia looked up from the girl on his lap to the German, and gave out his usual innocent smile. "Hello Germany, worried?"

"Ja, I can move her to where Italy is."

"Oh no, she's fine here."

"The siesta only last an hour to two hours…" He warned hoping for the other to reconsider.

"That is no problem to me." He said gently as the girl curled up a bit more. "She seems to be comfortable here for now. If she starts to act up, then you can take her." He looked down at the sleeping girl once more and there was a sense of calm surrounding Russia that took even Belarus by surprise.

Germany, not used to seeing the usually slightly insane with an innocent face nation be so calm and gentle. He walked away a few feet, but still has his eyes on the Russian, who was watching over the girl like a mother would. 'How unusual…' He thought as he looked at Belarus and begin to fear for the girl's life by the jealous look in the nation's glare. 'Looks like she made an enemy out of Belarus…' Then he realized something. 'At least they didn't take off their clothes this time… That's another thing that's unusual.'

0o0o0o0

About an hour into the nap, Fern-Lui woke up and blinked as her hazy mind started to clear. Once she was fully awake, she looked to see that Russia greeted her with a smile, which she returned. "Thank you for letting me take a nap on your lap. I hope you weren't uncomfortable."

"None at all." Russia said as he patted her head. "But you did cause a bit of a stir with everyone else."

"I did?" She said, rubbing the sleep from her eye, looking confused.

Russia couldn't help but lightly chuckle at such a cute display of innocence. "Yes, but now that you're up, would you like something to eat?"

She nodded as she tried Russia's and Belarus's foods and drink some of Ukraine's milk. All of which she was pleased and thanked them highly.

The other nations sighed in relief, seeing the girl is going to be okay around Russia, while a bit unnerved by how Russia is acting very motherly to the girl.

Germany was no exception as he watched the girl thank Belarus for the use of her apron, even got a simple pat on the head by the nation, but it was hard to tell if Belarus is okay with the girl or not. 'Even Italy wasn't this much to worry about.' He looked to see that both Italies and Spain were still asleep. 'So her nap is only an hour less of what Italy normally takes.' He put this thought into this mental library as he saw that the girl has reached the Nordic table.

0o0o0o0

"Hey der indianerkrigersprøjt!" Denmark said as he scooped her up and lifted her up in the air. "You're definitely a force to be reckoned with! Ya know that!" (16)

"No, can't say I do…" She said calmly.

"And so modest!" The loud Nordic said as he handed her a sampling of his food. "You'll love this!"

"Don't be so full of yourself." Norway said. "They're not that great."

"Ouch, I know we're not the warmest bunch, but you don't have to give the cold shoulder every time."

"It is good." She said with a smile. "Thank you very much."

"Well you're welcome! Now if only Norway was just as cute and nice as you…"

"Then it wouldn't be Norway."

Norway had to chuckle at this. "I like her, she's smart."

Denmark pouted as he handed her to the nation. "Your turn to hold her!"

Norway blinked as he looked at the girl in his arms. "Du er meget lett…" He pointed out has he gave her a dish. "It's nothing much. Don't even know why we bother to make anything when we're not known for our cooking." (17)

"It's still yummy." She said, having an empty dish to prove it.

Norway blushed lightly as he introduce Iceland to her, who lifted a bowl of some of his snacks he had been munching on.

She tried Iceland's snacks and smiled. "Thank you for sharing, they're very sweet."

"You're welcome." Iceland said as his Puffin helped himself to some fish that the nation laid out for him.

"What a cute puffin." She said as the said bird looked up at her.

"His name is Mr. Puffin… and he thanks you."

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Puffin." She said as Norway handed her off to Finland who was more than eager to hug the girl.

"Hyvää päivää, Fern-Lui, olen Suomi!" (18)

"Mukava tavata sinut!" She said happily as Sweden was standing next to Finland, who was caught by surprise of the large nation. (19)

"Ah! Sweden, don't sneak up on me like that…" He said, slightly trembling from the sudden shock of seeing Sweden next to him so closely.

Sweden then was six feet away. "Bet'er?"

"Oh Sweden…" Finland said with a sigh as the girl giggled and waved him to come back.

"Var inte så dum Herrn Sverige! Kom tillbaka hit!" (20)

Sweden did come back as Finland handed her to him and the nation gave her a dish.

"You like it?" Finland asked as she nodded.

"It's really good."

"Thank you. Oh! You should also try Sweden's dish." He said as he handed her Sweden's dish.

She smiled as she hummed in content, earning a smile from the Swedish nation. "I like it a lot. Thank you for sharing." She said as she looked at the man, who smiled and held her close before setting her down.

"Du är välkommen." He said as Sealand came up. (21)

"Hi! I'm Sealand!" He said as he puffed out his chest. "You can call me senpai if you want!"

"I rather call you Sealand." She said as she bowed. "It's nice to meet you."

Sealand blinked. "Wow, you really are old fashioned."

She smiled. "I've been taught to respect my elders and only be rude when necessary."

"I can't wait to see that." He said as he grabbed her hand. "Have you met Latvia yet? He's a nice guy too! You would get along easy!" He said as he dragged her over to where Latvia and Estonia were trying to avoid Russia at all costs. "Latvia!"

"Looks like Sealand found a new friend." Finland said as Sweden nodded.

0o0o0o0

Back with Latvia and Estonia, Sealand introduced the two to the girl as the two nations gave her a sampling of their dishes and she gave them equal praises.

"Wow, is there anything you don't like?" Sealand asked. "Don't tell me you like brusselsprouts."

"Don't you?"

"You can't be serious…"

"Not by themselves, but if added with other foods then I'll eat it."

"You can't be normal…"

"How can you describe normal?"

Estonia couldn't help but chuckle at this. "A bit of a smart alack, are we?"

"I try not to be, but sometimes it just comes out."

"That happens to the best of us." Latvia said as he was trying to get Sealand's attention.

She made her way to where Switzerland and Liechtenstein were and tried both their dishes. "Yummy!" She said happily, making the two seem very happy as Liechtenstein picked the girl up and hugged her, who returned the hug full heartedly.

0o0o0o0

Germany was watching the girl getting along with everyone. In a way it was reassuring, but in another it wasn't.

"Ve, she's so good with everyone, isn't she?" Italy said, sounding a bit tired after waking up.

"Ja. It's good to see everyone not arguing." He said as he looked to see France and England. "Well, mostly everyone not arguing."

0o0o0o0

With Fern-Lui, she went up to Taiwan's spot, where she and China were having a small argument. "對不起." She said, gaining the two and the other Asian nations' attention. (22)

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Taiwan said as she picked the girl up. "Here I am arguing with my big brother and here you are."

She just smiled and hugged the female nation. "That's alright."

"Oh! You're so adorable!" She squeeled as she handed her sample to the girl, who enjoyed it and praised it. "You're so sweet!" She said as she handed the girl to Hong Kong.

For a second they just stared at each other before he mumbled a "hello" and handed her his sample. She enjoyed it all the same and was handed over to Vietnam.

"Xin chào, tôi là Việt Nam." She said, knowing the girl will understand. (23)

"Rất vui được gặp bạn." She said as she enjoyed the small dish before being introduced to Thailand. (24)

"Hello!" He said with a bright smile. "How are you enjoying yourself?"

"I'm having lots of fun!" She said as she tried his dish before being led to China.

"Hello Fern-Lui, I'm China."

"Nice to meet you." She said as she was praised over for how cute she is. Soon she was able to enjoy the food that the nation has made as well as enjoyed the treats he set out. "These are good."

"I'm glad you like them, aru!" He said as he didn't want to let her go, but had to and Korea scooped her up.

"Hi! I'm South Korea, da ze!"

"안녕하세요." (25)

"And I'm North Korea…" Said the nation that looked like the southern, only looked calm and not as loud as the other.

"It is nice to meet you." She said as she enjoyed the dishes. "감사합니다." (26)

South Korea smiled as he hugged the girl. "You know your kind personality is from Korea?"

She laughed and patted his head. "Don't be silly!" She said as she was set down. "Thank you everyone!" She waved and headed to where Austria was just setting out his pastries.

"Oh, Fern-Lui, you're just in time."

"They smell so good!" She said as she was given a slice.

"Well, I would be in trouble if these were not in their top potential." He said as she hummed in content.

"And it's just as good!"

He blushed lightly as his curl created a heart shape due to the comment. "Thank you, my dear."

She smiled and bowed politely before heading to the table that had one of many of England's relatives.

"Crikey! There you are!" said a man with tan skin, a bandage on his nose, brown hair that was slightly combed back. "The name's Australia, but you can call me Aussie for short."

She giggled. "It's nice to meet you, Aussie."

"Same here, Lil' Sheila." He said as he grabbed his dish and handed it to her. "So, how do you like us crazy nations so far?"

She giggled. "It's a lot of fun! Everyone is so kind to me, even though some don't get along with each other."

"Well, that'll happen, but that's our issue."

"I know." She said as she saw a koala bear. "How cute!"

"Wanna pet him?" He said as he handed the marsupial to the girl, who hugged it gently and received a hug in return. He chuckled at this. "Aw! Looks like you found a new buddy, Mate."

She gave back the koala to the happy nation, said her thanks, and headed to one of the other English nations.

"Well! If it isn't the little tike herself." Said a man with red hair and thick eyebrows, fair skin, and emerald green eyes.

She smiled. "Hello, it's nice to meet you."

"Same here, the names Ireland." He said as he handed his dish to her. "How were the other nations?"

"They were also kind, sir."

He laughed. "You always this polite?"

"Only to people I don't know right away." She said with a smile.

"I can understand that, but it's never been my thing."

"That's okay though." She said as she thanked for the dish.

"Don't be a stranger now."

"I don't think I will be after this." She said with a giggle, making the Irish man laugh.

She headed over to Wales, who had light brunet hair, combed back, and light green eyes, and also thick eyebrows. She had a small chat with him as well before heading to the one table everyone feared she would go: England's.

"Ve!" Both Italies saw where she was heading and ran to take her away from the table, this caused Spain and Germany to look as well as England, who had been glaring at France the whole time.

"Italia? Romano? What's wrong?"

"Saving you from certain death!" Romano said.

"England's food isn't really all that good, honest!" Italy said as tears were coming out.

Fern-Lui looked at the two before placing her hands on their shoulders. "Italia… Romano… Thank you for worrying about me, but everyone here made something. The least I could do is try them out and thank them. Isn't what this day is all about?"

Both Italians weren't sure about letting her go to England's table, which Romano covered his concern by acting like he didn't care and march his way back to Spain's side. Italy however was speaking in rapid Italian, using one arm to do the gestures, to convince the girl to skip the scones.

But she wouldn't budge as she kissed Italy on each cheek and climbed off. With that she held her head up and smiled as she walked up to England's table, took a scone and bit into it.

"Brave girl, that one is." France said to Germany, who kept his eye on the girl like a hawk when he and everyone saw her flinch.

Fern-Lui managed to swallow, much to everyone's worry, and looked up at England. "England, what exactly do you make with these?"

"Is there… something wrong?" He asked as she reached for the tea he set out and drank a whole cup.

"Are you sure you put in the right ingredients?"

England ran to the kitchen where he had left his bag and looked through all the things he used to make the scones, only to pale at one jar he thought were raisins.

He walked out, white as a clean sheet, and everyone grew concerned for the girl.

"England! What is going on!" Germany called out as he marched up to the Brit, the promise of pain was clear on his stern face.

"I… I… That is… to say…"

"Out with it!" Germany ordered, patience wearing thin very fast.

"She's going to experience some abdominal pains for the next few hours." England said quickly and waited for the German to back away and saw him headed to pick up the girl.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine, just have a bad taste."

Germany was worried though. He remembered the last time he saw someone eat anything of England's. It was his own brother and he remembered that the day after eating fish and chips. Prussia kept giggling and running into walls for three days. "We're going to see a doctor on our way home." He said, not taking any chances.

"You're a big worry wart, Herr Deutschland."

"And every right to be." He said as Italy was in a panic mode as he started fussing over the poor girl. "Italy! Would you calm down! It's just a check up!"

"I'm sorry! I'm just worried about her! I told her that England's cooking isn't great, but she went ahead and took a bite of that scone! I'm afraid she might die from it. Ve! She isn't going to die is she!"

"NEIN! She's not going to die! Now calm down!"

"Waah! Germany's scary!"

Fern-Lui couldn't help but giggle. "You two act like my parents when it comes to cooking sasagues."

Germany became red as Italy looked lost before smiling.

"Wouldn't that be funny? Germany and me married?"

"I don't think so." She said as Germany cleared his throat.

"I think it's time for us to head on out." He said. "I would like to make sure you're really okay."

"Okay." She said as everyone exchanged thanks and hugs.

0o0o0o0

After getting an okay with the doctor and arriving at Germany's home, the girl was fast asleep and Italy took off her clothes and tucked her into bed while the German was in his room to get ready to bed.

"Buona notte, Fern-Lui." He said as he heard her mumble a good night as well and left the room.

Around midnight, she whimpered, causing the dogs that settled into her room to whimper along. She tossed and turned as she looked like she was having a fever. After fifteen minutes, she stilled to a peaceful sleep, but the dogs were whimpering and Blackie went up to the closed door of his master's room and tried to get his attention when Prussia came up.

"Hey there Blackie." He said when he saw that Blackie was whimpering. "Hey… What's up? Need to go?" He asked when his bird started to flutter around as if in a panic. "Hey there, what's wrong?" He held out his hand for his bird to perch on as the bird moved around as Prussia seemed to understand and headed to the girl's room.

When he arrived there, he blinked to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him before mentioning the dogs out of the room and closed the door. He sighed as he headed to his brother's room, but his bird tugged his jacket to the nearest phone. "Why do you think I wanted to wake West up for? I don't know who to call." He said.

The bird made motions of a woman and then acting like it has something in its wings and swung it around.

"Are you crazy? That woman wouldn't listen to me if I called." He said, earning a glare from the bird. "Fine…" He picked up the phone and dialed the number. "You're not being awesome to me, you know that." He waited until he heard a tired woman's voice.

_"Who's calling?"_

"Hey! This is the awesome me calling!" He said, which resulted in being hung up. "She hung up on me." He looked at his bird friend and saw that it was still glaring at him. "Okay, okay…" He dialed again and waited until he heard the woman again.

_"Prussia, for the life of me why are you calling this late?"_

"Well, the awesome me was just walking in from going around my usual drinks, right?"

_"I'm hanging up…"_

"Wait! Wait! It's about the kid!"

_"Fern-Lui! What's wrong? Is she okay? You didn't do anything to her, did you!"_

"Nein! She's a kid! That's something France would do!" He said as he sighed. "This is gonna sound really strange but… I believe all of us would like it that you would come here as soon as possible…"

_"Why?"_

"I've no idea what just happened but… being the awesome me, even I can't handle something like this."

_"What is it!"_

"The kid is…" He said as he sighed. 'Germany better have some beer around here after this…'

* * *

Translations:

(1) Germany speaking - German

(2) The beginning English lyrics to an Italian song: Una su un milione (link: www. youtube .com/ watch?v=PzjROcYCIZw (rid spaces))

(3) Brother - Russian

(4) big sister - Russian

(5) It's okay, just remember not to hold me so tight next time. - French

(6) You speak French? - French

(7) But, my dear, I want to hold you a little longer. - French

(8) Hello there - Spanish (European)

(9) It's nice to meet you, Mr. Spain. - Spanish (European)

(10) It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. Japan. - Japanese

(11) Same here Mr. Greece. - Greek

(12) It's a pleasure to meet you. - Turkish

(13) Thank you for sharing. - Arabic

(14) You are welcome. - Arabic

(15) Pleasure to meet you Mr. Poland. - Polish

(16) Hey there brave squirt! - Danish

(17) You're very light... - Norweigen

(18) Hello Fern-Lui, I'm Finland! - Finnish

(19) Nice to meet you. - Finnish

(20) Don't be so silly Mr. Sweden! Come back here! - Swedish

(21) You're welcome. - Swedish

(22) Excuse me. - Chinese (Traditional)

(23) Hello, I'm Vietnam. - Vietnese

(24) Nice to meet you. - Vietnese

(25) Hello. - Korean

(26) Thank you for sharing. - Korean


	5. Chapter 5

Again, this chapter was one broken in two parts.

* * *

_Chapter 5: Never Eat England's Food_

The next morning, everyone arrived to the conference room. America was whining about having a meeting after a successful party, England was arguing with the American, and everyone else was talking about other things.

However before the argument between England, America, and France could rise once again, Germany forcefully opened the doors, nearly busting them off their hinges.

"Chepalle! What the hell potato bastard!" Romano called out when he saw that the German was beyond pissed and glaring at England.

"ENGLAND!" Germany yelled. "WHAT THE HELL WAS IN THOSE DAMN SCONES!"

There was silence in the room as everyone looked at the Englishman.

"Dude… You're so dead." America added as he made his way away from the Brit.

"W-What do you mean?"

"WHAT DO I MEAN!" Germany yelled as his face was red with anger. "YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT THE HELL WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!"

At that point Italy and Hungary ran up and grabbed both of his arms

"Germany! Calm down." Italy said as he held onto one of the larger nation's arm.

"Italy's right! You have to calm down!"

Then Prussia came around and looked around until he spotted England. "You do realize you are as good as dead if West gets a hold of you."

"I don't understand what is going on!" England called out when another person came around. "Bloody Hell…"

Everyone looked to see the new presence and saw a young woman who looked like the softer, female version of Italy with Germany's traits. The only thing that could make her less of a stranger is the Iron Cross hair clips and the strange hair curl similar to Italy's.

"Fern-Lui?" England said, secretly praying that this woman wasn't the same as the little girl they just saw yesterday.

She smiled awkwardly. "Hello everyone…" She said as she fingered the simple country dress that Hungry made earlier in the morning.

"You kidding me?" Sealand said. "You English bastard! You made her to a woman!"

"Sealand! Language!" Finland said.

"A very good looking woman." France added.

Germany glared at him to the point where the French man went up against the wall due to the intense aura. "IF YOU SO DARE GO EVEN SIX FEET FROM HER YOU'RE DEAD AS WELL!"

"Germany…" Italy whined as he and Hungary held the German back with the help of Prussia, seeing that his French friend just added fuel to the fire.

England, scared for his life at this point, looked at America who shook his head.

"No way dude, you brought this on yourself."

"Why you ungrateful-"

"Mr. England…" Fern-Lui interrupted as she went in-between the raging German and the scared Brit. "Is there a way to change me back?"

"I-I-I may have something… G-Give me a minute." He said as he grabbed a chalk out of his pocket and drew a circle on the chalkboard.

By this point Germany calmed down a bit so that the three people holding him back can relax.

"Dude, you really scared everyone." America said as he caught the German nation glaring at him.

"America… Don't start." He said as the girl turned woman came up to the small group and asked him if he was okay.

He sighed as he saw that the woman before him was only half a head shorter than him, slightly taller than Italy, and acting calm while he was out for England's blood. "Finding out a young girl turned into a woman in less than twenty four hours ago doesn't call for a calm reaction."

"I was surprised too when I woke up." She said as she looked at Prussia. "Thank you for calling up Mrs. Magyarország, Herr Preußen."

"Thank my awesome bird and West's dogs, they were the ones that were trying to tell us what was wrong with you."

Germany took a deep breath and smiled in gratitude at his brother. "Still, thank you for acting out immediately."

Prussia got an ego boost from that and smiled smugly. "Well, I did think about waking you up and handle this mess, but now that I see just how violent you are, now I'm glad that I did that. Isn't that awesome of me?"

Germany's smiled disappeared as his brother was being an ass once again and looked at Italy. "Sorry for scaring you."

"You were very scary, but I understand." Italy said as he looked at the woman. "What have we learned? Fern-Lui?"

She giggled. "To never eat England's food."

"Sì!"

Once England got the circle done on the chalkboard, he chanted a spell, which caused the circle to glow, reached his hand in, which acted like a liquid, put his head in and everyone watched this awkward show as France sneaked up behind the preoccupied nation just as he made a sound of success and got out of the portal.

Before France can do anything, Fern-Lui lightly hit him behind the head.

"Don't be mean to Mr. England, Monsieur France."

"I wasn't being mean, I was going to play a little joke."

"Can you wait on that until after he changes me back?"

"But mon cher! You look absolutely marvelous like this!"

"But this isn't really me." She whined a bit.

"She's right." Germany said as he placed a hand on the Frenchman's shoulder. "And didn't I just say to stay away at least six feet from her?"

"Not the face!" France called out as he jumped away from the German.

"Ah! Here we are!" England announced. "Says here that this is only temporarily and you should be back to normal by tomorrow."

"That's good to know." She said as she looked around.

"What are you looking for?" England asked.

"Something to do."

"There's a kitchen here!" Italy announced. "We can make pasta so that everyone has something for lunch."

"You have to be present here Italy…" Germany reminded, sounding tired from nearly killing someone.

"We do have a piano." Austria pointed out.

"I don't know how to play." She said, ignoring the shuttering shock of the Austrian, as she seemed to have an idea. "Signore Italia, do you have a sketch book?"

"Ve? I do." He said as he took out a small sketch book from his pocket that looked like an address book. "I just got this the other day so there wouldn't be any sketches in it yet."

"Thank you Italy." She said as she found herself a seat next to Germany and everyone settled to the meeting, which was another form of chaos.

0o0o0o0

By the time the meeting was done, she had filled out the whole sketch book.

"Ve~ You filled out the whole thing!"

"Sorry, I just kept going without realizing how many pages I was using up."

"No, no, I don't mind. May I see?"

She nodded as Italy looked and smiled. "Ve! You're really good!"

"Well… Mi mamma is an artist, so I learned a lot from her."

"She taught you well." He said as he saw a sketch of Germany. "You captured Germany perfectly!"

"Huh?" Germany looked to see what Italy was talking about and saw the sketch as well.

The sketch was of him with his dogs. He was knocked down by Aster and was smiling.

"You drew this by memory?"

She nodded.

"You're amazing, Fern-Lui!" Italy praised.

"What's going on here?" America popped up and looked at the sketch as well. "Aww! How sweet! How come you're not like that all the time here?"

Germany didn't know what to say when Japan looked as well and smiled.

"Itari-kun is right. You're very tarented."

"Arigatoo gosaimasu, Nihon-san."

"What else did you draw?" America asked.

"We really should be going…" Germany said.

"Is that Prussia? Dude! That's hilarious!"

Germany looked and saw that Prussia, drunk of course, was being used as a pillow by his dogs. He remembered that day and smiled.

"Hey! That's so not awesome!" Prussia said with a pout.

"Ve! You even drew one of Romano and Spain!"

"What's that! Let me see!" Romano said as he made his way to see a sketch of him and Spain, back to back, him eating a tomato while Spain was carrying a basket full of tomatoes.

"What a great picture of us." Spain said, making Romano blush and sputter.

Soon everyone crowded around her, seeing that they were in the sketch book, each as expressive as if it was taken by a camera.

0o0o0o0

After awhile, Germany was on the road and both Italy and Fern-Lui were taking their siesta while his brother was playing some game on the PSP Japan got him last Christmas, quietly cursing as he pounded the buttons.

He was going through a town and saw an art shop. 'Italy did mention he needed more of that green paint for his painting…' He thought as he just at the front of the shop.

"Where ya going West?"

"Picking up something that Italy wanted." He said as he got out.

"He has you whipped." Prussia said with a grin.

Germany ignored that comment as he went inside the shop, looked around to find the paint and picked up a medium sized, spiral bound sketch book and went back to the car with his purchases.

"I thought you're going to get paint."

"I also got Fern-Lui something."

"You're such a dad."

Germany gave his brother a look, which was wasted due to the game in his brother's hand and headed back out onto the road.

"Damn it!" Prussia said as shut the game off. "Low on battery on the last boss fight."

Germany made a sound that he heard what the other said as he heard Fern-Lui waking up. "How was your siesta?"

"Good…" She said as she rubbed her eyes.

"How's being a woman feel?"

"Prussia…"

"Was? I'm just asking."

"Not that much different, only things aren't as big as I thought and I can reach a lot of things…"

"Enjoy it while it lasts, it'll be a while before you get this big again, and this time it will be permanent."

She smileed as she leaned forward in between the two front seats. "What have you two been doing, besides the obvious?"

"I was playing my awesome game when the battery wasn't being awesome and decided to switch the red light on me."

"Should've packed a spare in case that happens again, or another charged battery pack."

"I like how you think."

"It's a no brainer really."

"Ouch…"

"Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Germany said. "His ego needs to be checked now and then before he gets too full of himself."

"Even my own Bruder… Turned against me."

She giggled as she went back, only to see a bag with the green paint and a sketch book. "You went shopping?"

"Only one stop. The sketch book his for you." Germany said.

"Danke, Herr Deutschland!" She said as she leaned over and managed to kiss Germany's cheek, causing him to blush a bit.

"Aww, how sweet." Prussia said as his bird chirped in agreement.

"Ve~… Is it almost time to make pasta?" Italy said as he started to wake up from his siesta.

She giggled. "No, Signore Italia, we're not even in Herr Deutschland's house yet."

"Oh…" He said as he saw the bag and saw the green paint. "This is the paint I was looking for!"

"Herr Deutschland bought it. And he got me a sketch book."

"Ve! Grazie! Germany!" He said as he did the same thing that Fern-Lui did, making the German blush even more.

"Y-You're welcome, Italy…" He said.

"When will we get there! I'm bored here!" Prussia whined, grating on the driver's nerve.

"We'll be there in the next hour…" He said as his brother turned on the radio and turned it to a station that was in German, but it was the kind of music that scared Italy and was turned up to the highest possible. He turned off the radio, causing his brother to complain, which Fern-Lui used the guilt trip and the Prussian was quiet the rest of the way. 'Finally, some peace.' He thought as he half listened to Italy and Fern-Lui talking about things related to art.

0o0o0o0

By the time they reached to the house, Italy made dinner, Fern-Lui and Prussia played with the dogs, and Germany was working on the papers. When dinner was done, the girl turned woman, dressed for bed, which was just something of Hungary's in case the situation wasn't fixed right away and went to bed.

Around midnight, she tossed and turned, causing the dogs in the room to be concerned once again before she stilled and woke up, feeling the slight pain from becoming from adult to child. "Now I know how a Great Dane feels when it's going through its growing stage…" She said as she was scratching her head, only to feel something out of place. "This can't be good."

0o0o0o0

Next morning in England's home, he was enjoying his morning tea while reading the paper when his phone rang. "Bloody hell… Who calls this early in the morning?" He asked himself as he answered the phone. "England residence."

_"This is Germany…"_

England, remembering what happened in yesterday's meeting, started to pale. "Oh… hello… Is everything… well?"

_"Fern-Lui is back as a child as she should be."_

England was relieved to hear that. "That is good to know."

_"But…"_

He paled again. "Something wrong?"

At Germany's end, he looked at the girl with Italy, with white dog ears and tail similar to a German Shepherd. "She has ears and tail of a dog."

_"Oh…"_

"Are you completely sure that this thing will go away?"

"Give me a second…" England said as he rushed to his study. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He said to himself. "This can't be good! Surely there's an explanation to this! Otherwise…" He imagined Germany beating him to a pulp. "Damn it…" He said as he looked through his books before finding something and rushed to the phone. "You still there Germany?"

_"Yes… Tell me you found something and it better be accurate. I don't want to wake up to find out that she turned into something else."_

"Understood… Well… from what I looked into and considering the disastrous cooking flaw on my part, this is the last change before being her normal self."

_"How long until that?"_

"…A couple weeks…"

Germany sighed as he counted to ten before talking to England. "Okay… I think we can handle this until then…"

"Herr Deutschland, is that Mr. England on the phone?" Fern-Lui asked as she lightly tugged on his pant leg.

"Ja."

"May I talk to him for a bit?"

"Alright, just give me a second." He said as he said his farewell and handed her the phone.

"Hello Mr. England."

_"Hello, Fern-Lui, I'm so sorry that you have to go through with this. If I wasn't so rushed I would've seen that I packed the wrong ingredient."_

"That is alright, Mr. England, you didn't mean to do any harm. And it could've been worse you know."

_"True…"_

"I could've been turned into a snake and Signore Italia wouldn't hold me ever again."

England couldn't help but smile. "Then it's a good thing that didn't happen, huh?"

_"Yeah!" _She said with a laugh. _"I better let you get back to what you were doing then. Sorry if Herr Deutschland scared you, he's just really worried about me."_

England chuckled. "I understand how that is. Thank you for being so understanding, and again I'm sorry for being such a git."

_"No harm done, I'm actually used to the dog ears and tail."_

"I wish I could see that, but then again it's probably best you stay until you're back to your normal self."

_"I guess… Well, talk to you later, Mr. England."_

"Have a good day, Miss Fern-Lui." With that he hanged up and smiled. "What a sweetheart. If only that krunt bastard learned a thing or two from her."

"Breakfast is ready!" Italy called out.

"Okay!" She said as she found Germany and both headed to the table.

0o0o0o0

After breakfast, she was about to draw something in her sketch book when the sound of the doorbell was heard.

"I got it!" Italy called out and opened the door to see Hungry there. "Ah! Hungary! What brings you here?"

"I'm just here to make sure Fern-Lui is o-" She started to say when she caught sight of the girl out in the hall.

"Jó reggelt, Mrs. Magyarország." (1)

In the office, Germany was writing down a document when the sudden shrilling sound made him press too hard and ink went out all over the paper. He ran out of the office and saw Hungary going overly affectionate to the half dog girl.

"Ön oly imádatra méltó!" She said as the girl seemed completely lost, but her tail wagged, earning another squeal of happiness from the female nation. "Oh I can't wait to tell Japan about this! He'll have a day with you!" (2)

"Er, Hungary…" He tried to talk to the woman when she noticed him.

"Oh, hello Germany! Sorry I didn't call earlier, but I was so worried about her that I just have to come over to see how she's doing. And my goodness I never expected to see such a change! But how long are you going to be like this."

"England said it was only for a couple weeks." He said.

"That's perfect!"

"Eh?" The three said, the girl's dog ears going opposite directions, as Hungary got up holding onto the girl.

"I was talking to Japan earlier and he mentioned that there was a convention coming up soon, and she would make the perfect dog girl cosplayer!"

"But… the ears and tail are real…" Germany pointed out.

"Which makes it easier on us if you let us borrow her for a while."

Germany sighed as he looked at the girl. "Well… I do feel guilty about keeping her indoors… How long is this event?"

"It's a week from now and it lasts a week, it'll be perfect! Oh I gotta tell Japan about this, he'll be so surprised!"

"What's a con-ven-tion?" She asked.

"Only the best thing in the whole wide world!" Hungary said happily as she went on about how the convention is like.

'Well… at least she'll be in good hands with Hungry and Japan.' Germany thought as Hungry took out her cell and pressed the speed dial.

"Japan! Come quick to Germany's house! You won't believe what Fern-Lui looks like!"

The German sighed. 'So much for getting paper work done.'

"Ve! Germany, can we go too? It's been a while since we went to one of Japan's conventions."

"I got a lot of work to catch up…" He said, feeling a growing headache. "And when was the last time you did yours?"

"What's going on down here?" Prussia called out as he came out, only to see the peanut gallery. He saw the girl and it took him a moment to register the major difference. "Are those real?"

"Ja."

Prussia went up and tugged lightly on one of the ears and looked depressed. "That's so unawsome… I wanna have real ears and tail…"

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Because it would be awesome." He said making the girl giggle and wag her tail when he realized who was holding the girl. "Hey Hungary, come to check out the awesome?"

"As if." She said with a dull face before smiling at the girl. "I just came to see cutie pie here." This made the girl's tail wag more, making her giggle. "So cute!"

Then a rapid knocking was heard and Italy went to get it, only to reveal Japan, looking as though he ran the marathon.

"I came… as fast… as I courd…" Japan said as he looked like he was going to drop when he looked up to see the girl and he was immediately energized. "Amazing!"

Fern-Lui smiled as she hugged the Japanese man, who looked shocked for a moment but immediately was the one holding her with the happiest look anyone has ever seen, while her tail wagged a little faster.

"I better make lunch!" Italy said happily as he went into the kitchen.

"Anymore people here and it's gonna be a party." Prussia said as Austria came in. "What I tell ya!"

"What on earth is going on-" Austria was about to say when he saw the girl. "Good lord what happened to you?"

"A side effect." She said simply. "It'll go away in two weeks."

"Just enough time to get you into clothes that can accominate your tail." Hungary said. "It's not ladylike to have your panties exposed."

"Mrs. Magyarország…" She said as her ears and tail dropped and was blushing, making everyone think the same thing.

'So cute!'

Germany cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "I suppose you and Japan would like to use the living room." He asked as he looked at Hungary.

"If that's okay with you." She said.

"Both you and Japan came all this way here…" He said as he looked at Prussia. "You behave yourself."

"Uh, I'm leaving."

Germany sighed. "Very well, but if you come across France, never mention this. I don't need him to break into my home."

"I got it. Yeesh… You're such a dad." He said.

"A better one than you would be." Hungary said as Austria excused himself to the piano.

"And no one asked you for your opinion." He said as he started to walk out of the house.

"Have a good time Herr Preußen, be careful!" Fern-Lui said as she waved.

Prussia turned and smiled as he waved as well. "Teach Hungary a thing or two while I'm gone!" He said as he left.

"I'm going to make lasagna!" Italy announced.

"You do that." Germany said as he headed back to his office. "And I got work to do, including redoing that paper."

"Okay then! What should we dress you up as?" Hungary said as they headed to the living room.

0o0o0o0

Later that day, Hungary and Japan left the house after having dinner and Fern-Lui was exhausted by the day's events and turned in early.

Sometime in the middle of the night, she looked like she was in pain as a nightmare was plaguing her mind.

_She was running down a long hallway, with large windows showing a snowy landscape bathed in a dim moonlight, on the wall opposite of the windows showed Russian paintings and other small art pieces. She looked over her shoulder to see the hallway behind her being swallowed by moving shadows and bright red glowing eyes within that darkness as a mad man's laughter was heard, echoing around the hallway. She ran harder as she looked up to see a door opening and she took that convenient path, only for her feet to meet air and fell into darkness. She spinned around in the darkness that seemed to never end until she saw something that looked like the ground, only to see random red patterns, along with bodies on the ground. She gasped when she recognized the scene when she heard a cold, heart-stopping laughter as she looked around and saw huge glowing red eyes above her as she looked back on the ground to see she was going to crash onto the ground._

_"I'll find you..." Said a cold chilling voice when everything became pitch black._

She woke up, finding that she rolled out of bed and the dogs were around her, licking her and whimpering softly until she petted all of them and sighed. "It was only a bad dream…" She said with a sigh. "That's the first actual bad dream I've had in a long while…" She wiped the fallen tears from her face.

"I thought I heard someone having a nightmare." Said a man's voice as she looked to see a muscular man that was wearing an Ancient Roman attire, dark brown hair that was short but wavy with a few stray curls similar to Italy's.

"Who are you?" She asked, making the man laugh.

"Surely you know at least a bit about me, I'm Sir Roman Empire."

She looked surprised. "Roman Empire? But, shouldn't you be…?"

He placed a finger to his lips. "Yes, but there are times I can come down and visit my cute grandson. But it looks like you may need me a bit more." He said as he went over, grabbed the girl off the ground and re-tucked her into bed. "Now then! You know who I am, but I don't know who you are, and why you're living here with Italy and Germany." He looked at the ears. "And why do you look like a little doggie?" He touched them to see that they were real

"My name is Fernanda-Luigia Vargas Beilschmidt, Fern-Lui for short, and I'm here because they took me in when I was sent here. And the dog thing is a little mishap due to England's cooking."

"Sent?" He asked when that word alone caught his interest.

She fumbled with the blanket before looking at the former empire. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Il mio bambino caro, I'm not allowed to even speak about what happened or my whereabouts. Your secrets are safe with me and in the world where everyone goes to when it's their time." (3)

She nodded as she curled her knees up under her chin. "Well… It started like any other night, mi mamma and I were asleep, but she was dressed like she was going to go out into the snow. She said that Vati was going to come by later and we're going to take a trip." She paused for a moment. "She looked so worried when she said that though…"

0o0o0o0

For an hour she told the man her story, and when she finished the man was silent as he gathered her into a hug.

"You poor girl… And so young to see all that…"

"It was really scary… But the thought of being alone was even scarier. I'm just happy that Herr Deutschland and Signore Italia were kind enough to take me in when I needed them the most."

Roman Empire rubbed the girl's back as she fell to a peaceful slumber and tucked her back in bed. "Well, if it were me, I would be happy to call you my great granddaughter." He whispered as he kissed her on her forehead before closing his eyes and placed a hand on her head and bowed his head. He murmured something like a prayer under his breath before he got up and left the room.

He entered Germany's room and poked the German's forehead. "Ciao~ Germany~ Wake up~" He sang, making the German lazily wake up, only to look fully awake.

"You again! What the hell do you want now!"

"Oh, I'm just here to see how my grandson is doing, and I get lonely talking to myself."

Germany sighed as he looked at the former empire. "What's on your mind?" He asked, hoping that as soon as he talked to the man he will go away sooner and he can gain back some lost sleep.

"Oh, I talked to a sweet little girl, Fern-Lui, that you're so kindly took in." He said as he petted his deep sleeper of a grandson on the head. "She woke up from a nightmare and needed some comfort. She was a bit surprised to see me, but unlike how we first met, she was very kind."

Germany sighed. "She's a bit like Italy when it comes to that." He admitted as he looked at the sleeping Italian. "But she's very well aware of the situations around her."

"You make it sound like she's one of your top subordinates." Roman Empire said.

He blushed and scratched his head. "She impresses me on how well she handles herself… But I can't help but think about what she must've been through before we took her in."

The Roman smiled knowingly as he patted the German's shoulder. "She must be impressive to be able to stay in the same room as so many other nations. But she's still a child who needs a solid support and love."

Germany nodded. "I know… And I guess I worry that, because I'm a nation my responisblities are to my people first. Although she's mortal like the people here and everywhere in the world, I have to give her a certain attention that nations aren't accustomed to unless it's a new nation, which there hasn't been one in years and probably never will have, unless something comes up."

Roman Empire couldn't help but chuckle as he got up. "That's called being a parent." He said as he placed his hands on his hips. "In this situation, you're a nation first and foremost, and a parent the second." He smiled gently. "But there are moments where you can be both. And as far as I can see you're doing an okay job."

"So far…"

"Well, in any case, I'm glad you adopted her."

"Uh… we didn't adopt her, we took her in…"

"Hm? Isn't there a limitation if you just took someone in?"

"Ja… But when was the last time you heard of a nation taking care of a mortal child?"

"There's always a first." Roman Empire said. "And from what I could tell she's going to be here for quite a while, and with no family she could stay with you for so long."

"That does make sense. Especially since we have no idea if or when her real family will pick her up."

Roman Empire nodded. "Sì, sì, and it would be bad for her parents to be adopted by some other family because you didn't."

"Are you suggesting that I should consider fostering?"

"Better than hand her off to some other mortal family who don't understand her situation. That and I could tell she loves you all, and I know you're not heartless when it comes to that child's affection."

Germany blushed as he did admit he did like the girl and the thought of handing her to someone else seemed to make him sick to his stomach.

"Well, my time is almost up. But before I go, can I ask you one thing?"

"Go ahead."

"Who plays the role of the wife/mother?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because it's obvious you're the husband/father role."

"I never agreed to that!"

The Roman winked. "That's the thing, you didn't have to!" He said with a laugh and he disappeared.

"Wartezeit!" He called, but the Roman was gone. "Scheiße…" He sighed as he looked at the time and rubbed his eyes. (4)/(5)

He got up and checked on the girl and looked to see that the girl, without the hair clips that make her look like him, looked almost exactly like Italy. 'Why didn't I notice that before?' He thought as he patted her on the head. 'Still, as long as she remains here, looks like I have to take what Roman Empire said and be a foster parent. Prussia already pointed out that I'm acting like a father, but surely that isn't enough. And Italy…' He walked out of the room and back into his own to look at the sleeping Italian.

'I guess he has a bit of a mother role.' He shook his head. 'What am I thinking? If I'm going to be the foster father I can't think that I'm married to Italy!' He blushed at that thought and then remembered that Valentine's Day years ago. 'No… Can't make that same mistake…' He went to his side of the bed and closed his eyes when he felt a thin arm go over his waist and sighed.

'It's settled. I'll be her foster father until her real family comes to claim her back. And I guess Italy will be the foster father in a mother role. But maybe I should talk to her first, this does concern her after all.' He sighed as he rubbed his eyes. 'Now to get back to sleep…' He thought when he felt the Italian nuzzle closer and then sighed in content with the usual carefree 've' and found himself being able to sleep once more with a light blush on his face.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Good morning, Mrs. Hungary - Hungarian

(2) You are so adorable! - Hungarian

(3) My dear child - Italian

(4) Wait! - German

(5) Shit... - German


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Foster_

A week passed and Germany drove up to the World Conference building in France's house as Italy and Fern-Lui got out of the car. There was still snow on the ground, but that was expected in the few months of winter, and headed up to the buildings doors with a small suitcase in his hand.

"Ve~ I can't wait to tell Romano about the good news!"

Germany shook his head, knowing the older Italian brother's extreme dislike for him, and looked to see the girl skipping ahead in kid jeans, which was modified for her tail, black snow boots, and a dark green jacket as she turned and waited for them to catch up. He couldn't help but smile at the girl's energy and wide smiles similar to Italy's.

He had grown to get used to seeing the ears and tail, and Japan even had him convinced that he can just say she can be one of the excited fans of the convention and decided to break into her cosplay accessories.

Which, thinking about Japan, he had told the girl that she was going to spend at least a week with Japan for the convention and, if she wished, can spend another week to see Japan's house. She happily agreed and was going to tell Japan herself about the plans.

0o0o0o0

Once they arrived in the meeting room, it was the same until Fern-Lui called out her hello and everyone quieted down for a moment before all of them happily replied back.

"Mon cher!" France called as he immediately went and picked the girl up. "You poor dear! You must've been horrified to have such a change happen to you."

"No, not really, I'm quite used to them now." She said as her tail was lazily moving back and forth.

"Oh! You're too kind for your own good, mon cher!" He said as he hugged her.

She smiled as her tail still wagged lazily, but this time in content.

"Okay France, put her down." Germany said as the mentioned nation pouted as he did just that and the girl went up to him. "Now Fern-Lui, I want you to stay in the other room until the meeting is over."

"Yes sir!" She said with a salute.

He smiled and patted her head. "At ease." He said, earning a giggle as she went over to say hello to the other nations, who were touching her ears to see if they were real and earned a lot of comments of how cute she is once more.

"Oh! Romano!" Italy called out as he ran up to his older brother and Spain. "I got something to tell you!"

"Ita-" Germany started to say but let it go, because he knew everyone was going to know it anyway, may as well let the events take their course. That and he didn't know how to even bring it up.

"What is it, idiot?" Romano said as Italy went up to him.

"Ve~ I got great news to tell you!"

"You finally leaving that potato bastard?"

"No, Fratello, Germany and I are parents!"

And just like that the room became dead silent as Germany face palmed and felt eyes on him.

Romano looked like a fish out of water as his face started to become red.

"Are you pregnant, Ita?" Spain asked, not fully understanding what the younger Italian was talking about.

"No, no! No one is pregnant!" Italy said.

"We've become foster parents for Fern-Lui." Germany said as he gained back his composure.

"When was this?" England asked, his tea nearly out of his cup in his hand.

"A few days ago, so I'm still new to the whole thing." The German admitted as he noticed that Hungary was having that strange face.

America laughed. "Wow! So you're a dad! Then again, you've always been the serious one here."

"I agree with Amerika-san." Japan said. "But does this arso mean that Itaria-kun is a father as well?"

"Well…"

"I'm the Mamma!" Italy announced happily, making Hungary shrill in joy as she congratulated the two, a few laughed and many others were confused.

Romano however shouted. "But you're a guy, stupid! You can't be the mother!"

"Ve! B-But, doesn't Mamma Italia sound cute though?"

"N-N-No! No it doesn't! Stupid!" He said while blushing.

"But Romano, you could be the auntie."

"Why the hell do I want to be the aunt!"

"Waah! I'm sorry! You can be called the uncle! Don't hurt me!"

"What I want to know is why the hell you and the potato bastard have to be the parents!"

While Italy tried his best to explain to his enraged brother, Germany sat down and put his papers together. He knew the brother would grab everyone's attention for some time, therefore another unproductive day of the meeting. But this gave him a moment to remember the morning that he announced his decision to Italy and Prussia.

x0x

**Few days ago**

Germany, thanks to the unexpectant visit of the former empire, woke up later than his usual time, and found the two and his brother in the living room. Italy and the girl were sketching while his brother was watching T.V. and drinking a bottle of beer. Italy was the first to notice his presence and announced to the two, which he got a morning hug by the girl and Prussia simply teased him about waking up late and ate something quick and finished the small stack of paper, which he telephoned his thanks to his boss, and joined everyone for lunch.

In the middle of the conversations, he cleared his throat and got everyone's attention. "I have something to ask you, Fern-Lui."

"Me?" She said as he nodded.

"Well, I'm out." Prussia said as he tried to get out of it.

"It concerns you as well, so sit."

"That's so unawsome." He said as he did what his younger brother told him.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Well, it's been almost a month since you stayed with us and you are considered an orphan in this… world…" He said, feeling awkward mentioning it but continued. "I've been thinking that, if you would like, I can be your foster father until your family comes and picks you up. For however long it takes."

"Hold up!" Prussia said. "You saying you're going to be a dad?"

"If it is okay with her then that is what I'm saying. I can't replace her real father, and as a nation my responsibilities also lie in my people. But since her real family hasn't shown up and any records of her are still being put in order, with that she would most likely be picked up by the child services because she isn't claimed as far as care and protection is concerned."

"So just her staying here isn't enough." Italy asked, seeing this as very serious.

"Exactly." He said as he looked at the girl. "I know this is probably a difficult decision for a child your age, but it's important to know if you would like me to be your foster father, even though I am a nation, as so is everyone you have met back in the World Conference."

She looked surprised to hear all this but then smiled. "I've already seen you as mein vati, so of course!"

"Are you sure, you don't have to answer right away." He said, a bit taken aback by the sudden response.

"I'm sure Herr Deutschland, I really like everyone already, and I know there are things that you have to take care of. It's no different than real parents."

Germany smiled as he nodded. "Then it's settled. From now on I'll be your foster father."

"So…" Prussia said. "Does this mean I'm the Onkel (1)?"

"You are my Bruder, so yes."

"Umm, can I ask something?" She asked.

"Sure."

"Since you're going to be my foster vati, is it okay if I start calling you Vati Deutschland?"

He blinked. "It'll be a while to get used to that, but I don't mind it."

"Ve! I wanna adopt her too!" Italy said. "Since I'm mostly here than at my own house, I can also be a foster parent!"

"I-Italy?" Germany said as Prussia laughed.

"A lot of the other nations believe you two are married already, so why not?"

Germany gave the other a look before looking at Italy. "Are you sure, Italy?" He asked as he was responded with an energetic nod of approval.

"Sì! I've already seen her as la mia bambina (2), so I'll be Mamma Italia!"

Germany looked like a fish out of water as Prussia laughed.

Fern-Lui smiled as she hugged the Italian next to her. "Mamma Italia!" She said happily.

x0x

**Present Time**

Germany sighed as he looked at the paper work he did after that talk and talked to his boss about the sudden custody arrangement. He did catch his boss off-guard with the request, but after a few hours discussing the matter, he was approved custody with the joint custody to Italy, who also returned home to talk to his boss, who met the same surprise of the request.

Even the agency weren't sure what to make of it when the papers were brought to them and had an audience with them and the girl. It took a couple days, the agency looking around both houses, how both lived when they're not being nations, and anyone that the girl can get in contact if anything ever were to happen. The agents, although not sure how to make of this strange arrangement, approved both nations to the girl.

Then he felt someone pat his shoulder and looked up to see Italy.

"Hey Germany, everything okay?"

"Ja. Just thinking about what we went through that last few days before the custody approval."

Italy smiled as he sat next to the German. "I told you some time ago that you would make a great dad, and here you are."

"It's only temporary…" He said as he couldn't help but smile. "But it does feel good." He looked up to see that Spain was talking to Romano, who was munching on a tomato, but his face was still red. "How did your brother take the news?"

"Ve~ It took me a while to tell him that this was a good thing and that he would be happy with this, since this was Fern-Lui. But once Spain helped quiet him down, he told me to come back to you and not talk to him ever. But I know Romano likes to hear from me, he just doesn't like to show it."

He nodded, knowing a bit about the older Italian brother than he cared to know, as America finally decided to start the meeting.

0o0o0o0

It took an hour and a half until the meeting was adjourned. Germany was getting his papers together when America went up to him.

"Congrats being a dad, dude!"

"Er… Danke…?" He said as the American patted him on the back.

"Lucky bastard." He added before he left the room when England came up to the German.

"I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, after what happened a week prior I suppose you have what it takes to be a foster father."

"That's kind of you to say…" He said as he saw the calm look in the Englishman's face.

"Reminds me back when America was just discovered and became a colony. They grow up very quickly."

He nodded as the Englishman left and France went up to him.

"Well! I don't see why you have to have custody of such a fille chérie and have Italy as your wife." (3)

"He isn't my wife, he's a foster parent who doesn't mind being called a mother…"

"Still so unfair!" He whined as he left as well.

Germany was glad that France was away, but then was faced with Russia. "Hello Russia."

The large Russian smiled innocently. "I never knew nations can adopt."

"Well… It's actually never been done before, so… It took both of our bosses by surprise when we asked for custody rights…"

"Oh, so that's how it is." He said, a bit sadly. "Then again, we are in the modern times, da?"

"J-Ja…"

"Will you still bring her here? I really did enjoy her company from the party."

"W-Well… it all depends if she has schooling. Right now she doesn't and has an appointment to take a test to see which grade she's most likely to be in…"

"I see…" He seemed disappointed. "I do hope she comes to visit though, da?"

"O-Of course…" He said, seeing the innocent smile on his face.

"That's good to hear. Have a good day and good luck being a father. Sounds so much fun, da." With that he left with his sisters.

A few others told him and Italy congrats, even Hungry seemed overly zealous about it as she waited to see the girl join the two to get a 'family' picture in. Even Austria said his congrats to the two, as well as added to the girl that if she needed escape from Prussia's annoyance, all she has to do is call Hungry and she would take care of it, which she laughed.

"I will have to discuss with music lessons with your child." He said after talking to the girl.

"Music lessons?" Germany said as they discussed the matter until Japan came up. "Oh, Japan, are you ready?"

"Hai. I've got everything at my home ready for her."

He nodded and looked at the girl. "You got everything you need?"

"Ja, Vati Deutschland." She said, which Hungary squeeled.

"Remember to mind your manners." Italy said.

"Sì, Mamma Italia." Another squeal.

"Hungary dear, I understand this is possibly the best day of your life, but can you control yourself?" Austria asked as he saw that Hungary was close to taking every shot until there was no film left.

The girl smiled as she hugged, Hungary, which is what the nation needed desperately as she rambled in her native tongue and petted the girl's head before she finally calmed down.

'That worked.' The guys thought as the female nation set the girl down, who then went up to Japan and all of them headed out of the meeting room and went their separate ways.

"Don't forget to call when you get to Japan's house."

"Okay! See you later Vati Deutschland, Mamma Italia! Tell Onkel Preußen that I'll see him later!" She said as she entered Japan's car and they headed out.

"I hope she and Japan get along." Italy said.

"I'm sure they will, Italy." Germany said. "If there were some problems, then Japan will call us."

"Okay…" Italy said as he and Germany went into Germany's car and headed back to the German's house. "It doesn't feel the same when she's not around…"

"It's only going to be for a week. It will go by before you know it." He said, but he did admit he felt that there's something missing. 'Looks like we're so used to having Fern-Lui for some time that it's like when Italy…' He thought about the war and sighed.

"Germany?"

"It's nothing Italy." He said as he stopped at a stop light when he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see the concerned and calm face of the Italian and gave him a small smile. "It's really nothing Italy. I just miss her too. Even though it hasn't been a day. But Japan can look out for her."

"Sì, Japan is a very nice guy. And she did like Japan's cooking back at the party, so I'm sure they'll make a lot of onigiris together."

Germany smiled and nodded. "Either way, both will have a great time."

0o0o0o0

With Japan and Fern-Lui, they arrived at Japan's house and the girl saw that it was a modest traditional home with a stone garden at the front before taking the small step to the front door, where a small white dog seemed to be waiting for them.

"Fern-Rui-chan, this is Pochi-kun."

"こんにちは、ポチくん(4)." She said as she pet it, earning a happy yip before a black and white cat came out as well.

"And that's Tama-kun."

"こんにちは、多摩くん(5)." She said as she followed Japan's example of taking off shoes and following him into his home.

"I bet you're hungry."

"I am." She said as she saw a kotatsu.

"Would you like some ramen?"

She nodded happily with sounds of approval.

He smiled and chuckled, finding the girl's enthusiasm is similar to Italy's. "It wirr only take a few minutes. I have some mangas if you rike to read them."

Her eyes seemed to brightened as she went to look and found a shelf full of mangas. She made a happy cheer as she looked at the books, picked one, and went to the table and waited for Japan.

0o0o0o0

When the ramen was done, Japan walked out and set the bowls and chopsticks down and she set the manga aside so that if there was a mishap then the book will be spared.

She clapped her hands together and thanked the meal before digging in. Japan didn't expect her to know his customs without explaining, but he smiled and did the same.

He remembered the time when he introduced the dish to Germany and Italy when they got together during the second World War. Germany was beyond shocked to see that Japan was slurping and eating the noodles quickly like Italy with his pasta. But once the German is informed that this was the proper eating edicate when presented a bowl, otherwise it would seem he was not enjoying it. Needless to say Germany was out of his comfort zone when it came to any hot noodle foods at his house.

But he could see the girl was a pro at the customs of his culture, for when she was done, she thanked the meal once more and got up to put her bowl away. "I can do that, Fern-Rui-chan."

She turned and smiled. "You can call me Rui-chan if you like. I don't mind."

He smiled at the sweet natured girl. 'She's definitery rike Itaria-kun.' He thought as he took the bowls and placed them in the sink. He looked back to see that she was back to reading the manga and saw the title. 'xxxHolic… What an interesting choice.' He thought as he cleaned the bowls and soon saw the time. "Rui-chan, I understand if the time difference is giving you some difficurty, but I do berieve it's time for you to go to bed. We do have a rong day ahead of us."

"Okay, Nihon-ojisan." She said as she placed the book back into the shelf and headed to her assigned room, missing the slight blush at being called 'uncle'.

"If you need anything, I am just in the other room."

"Arigatoo gosaimasu, Nihon-ojisan." She said as she finished changing and settled onto the futon and under the comforter. "See you in the morning."

"おやすみなさい,(6) Rui-chan." He said as he shut the sliding door.

0o0o0o0

Back in Germany's house, Prussia was groaning pitifully.

"What's wrong, Bruder? One too many?" Germany asked as he came down to check on his brother, who had been acting like that since they got home.

"I hate to say this, because it's not awesome for me to say it, but I miss the kid." Prussia said as Germany grabbed two beer bottles and gave one to him.

"So do Italy and I. And everyone else here." He said as he saw that his dogs, the two cats, and Prussia's bird joined them.

"This is just as worse than the time in World War Two…"

"Don't remind me…" He said gruffly as he downed his beer.

Prussia saw the irritated look on his brother's face and sighed. "Still not over that, huh?"

"Who would? I'm stained for eternity…" He said as he stared at the now empty bottle.

"Italy is over it, so has Japan, America. Hell, even France and England." He said in his moment of actual seriousness. "You're the only one who hasn't really gotten over it. Don't forget that I'm a part of it as well as long as you're alive."

Germany sighed as he threw away his bottle and said that he was headed to bed.

"She wouldn't care what you did, West. She knows you're a good person and nation alike just like all of us." He looked to see Germany's back. "It was never your fault."

Germany didn't say anything as he headed up the stairs to his room.

Prussia sighed and took a swing of his beer. "I worry about you… And it's so unawsome when I get like this."

* * *

Translations:

(1) uncle - German

(2) my little girl - Italian

(3) darling girl - French

(4) Hello, Pochi-kun - Japanese

(5) Hello, Tama-kun - Japanese

(6) Good night - Japanese

* * *

Okay... That's all I got for today. Let me know what you think and I may post more up later on this week. I'm still working on the other chapters that I worked on before I had to go back to look over these few plus chapters. Plus, I saw a kind of doctumentary called "The Fatal Attratcion of Adolf Hitler" on the Military Channel, and I learned a bit more about what kind of man Germany and the people had to deal with. If you could find it, I would recommend watching it.

Anyway, these are the chapters I've been looking over for three days now and hope you still enjoyed them. As you can see, I didn't change too much of the original.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay! The next chapters for the second round to be up and running. I've been getting favored for a few days now, so that's always a good sign and, like before, I've done a few changes, but not too dramatic, most of it is the same with some added details in regards to Fern-Lui's personality and thoughts. To be honest I'm liking how this time went. Well, that's all I have to say for now.

Enjoy everyone.

* * *

_Chapter 7: Time with Nihon-ojisan_

"Ve~!" She awed as she saw the large building that the convention was being held in and the amount of people that was going into it.

"You didn't expect a rarge crowd?" Japan said, wearing what looked like a Naruto ninja elite outfit.

She shook her head, wearing, ironically, a red hood with a small cape, a faded country, dress with lots of ruffles under the skirt, long white stockings, and polished black shoes. Her dog ears were decorated with ribbons and flowers around her hair, and her tail stuck out from the split in the dress and thanks to the ruffles, wasn't showing her underwear, and the large white bow from the apron drew the eye away from the ruffles as well.

'So cute!' He thought, happy with how he and Hungary designed the dress, and the weather wasn't cold. Though, he was a bit down that Hungary wasn't able to join them, due to her boss calling her for the entire week. But on the bright side he gets to have the girl to himself.

Once inside though, he couldn't help but giggle at how surprised the girl was at all the activity going on.

"Wow…" She managed to say as her eyes sparkled. "This is so amazing Ojisan!" She said, careful not to use Japan's name out in public.

He was amused by this as he grabbed her by the hand. "Come, we'rr start with the artist's alley."

"What's that?"

"You'rr see..." He said with a smile as the girl looked around pointing and asking about some things they passed by.

0o0o0o0

For the first two hours were just looking around and gathered free stuff from the stalls that were for the fans. Speaking of fans, Japan noticed that she liked _xxxHolic_ as she got an autographed poster of the time witch and a Monokai plush.

When they stopped for something to eat, he told her to wait seeing that she was tired from walking and went in line to get them something to eat. When he looked back to see if she was still there, panic set in when he didn't see her. He got out of line and went to where he told her to wait and saw that their stuff hasn't been touched. 'Where courd she be?' He thought as he looked around and asked a few people if they had seen the girl.

0o0o0o0

After an half an hour, he started to think of the worst case scenario. 'This isn't good! I have to find her somehow.' He thought when the speakers were turned on for the karaoke event. He knew his people loved to sing, him included, even if most of them were not that good. But the voice he heard on the speakers was, without mistake, the girl singing Luka Luka Night Fever.

He rushed to where the event was being held and he found her, singing and dancing as if she owned it, and she was drawing in a crowd. 'She's safe, thank goodness.' He thought as she finished the song and bowed, looked around and blue eyes met brown and smiled.

"Ojisan!" She called out as she ran up to Japan and hugged his leg. "I needed to go and when I came back I couldn't find you or the stuff! I was so scared!" She said as she did look like she was going to cry.

"Ah, do not worry, but you shourd've tord me you needed to go, but I'm grad you are oaky."

"I knew if I performed at least one song, you'd come."

Japan smiled as he patted her head. "What a smart one you are."

She smiled as she wiped away any tears that tried to come down.

"Come, we better find someprace to eat, now that we're back together."

"Hai!" She said as she held Japan's hand as they made their way through the crowd.

They spent the next couple of hours before both headed back to his house, where they shared a bath.

0o0o0o0

"Today was so much fun!" She said with a towel wrapped around her in the bath they were in. "Can we do it again tomorrow?"

"Of course, I got a pass to spend a few days there." Japan said, a content amused smile graced his usual calm face.

"Yay!" She cheered, creating a few splashes to come up, causing Japan to chuckle at the very Italy-like cheerfulness.

"Come here, I stirr have to wash your hair." He said as she went up and sat on his lap, back facing him.

"Nihon-ojisan..."

"Hai?"

"Doumo arigatou gozaimasu."

He blinked before smiling and continued to wash her hair. "喜びは、すべて私のものです" (1).

Unknown to Japan, the girl didn't look that happy, but guilty. She closed her eyes to keep the tears in as she let the other wash her hair. 'His hands are just as gentle as Obasan's.' She thought as she remembered being in the same situation, but only she is happy and a woman calmly told her tales told to her as a child or sing songs to her that have a different range to what mood the woman is in, and all in her native tongue. A stray tear came through the closed eyes, but it mingled with the other droplets from the bath as she lifted her head up to let the other have more access to her scalp.

"Everything okay, Rui-chan?" He asked, sensing a sad atmosphere.

"Hai. Just remembering something."

"Ah, I see..." He said, knowing better to pry answers from the girl before she was ready.

0o0o0o0

The next day they were back, this time the girl is in a western folklore country dress and him as a vocaloid, and this time Fern-Lui seemed to be a hit as everyone wanted to take a picture with her. Japan was highly amused by this, but he still kept his eye on her as she was his responsibility for the week. When asked to come up to do karaoke, she asked Japan to join her and they did a duet.

After their second venture came to a close, Japan called up Germany to update on the second day of the convention.

Back in Germany's house, he was finishing paper work while Italy was being quiet in the living room working on a painting. Prussia would usually lay around the house or go out to see France, at least making sure he didn't go to Japan's house to take his new little awesomely adorable niece away.

But otherwise it was overly quiet, something the house wasn't used to having after so much activity coming in and out for the past decades.

So when Germany got an update about his newly adopted daughter, he was happy to know that she is safe and enjoying her time in Japan's house. Even Italy would get to talk to Japan and his adopted daughter and then Prussia would want in, which Germany switched to speaker phone so that everyone can talk at the same time. This also reminded him that he had to thank America for the new phone, which he didn't realize that he was going to need one with a speaker phone until now.

0o0o0o0

It then turned to day three of the convention and Fern-Lui was still amazed by the convention as she played some of the games there, with Japan's help, and enjoyed the cosplaying show.

The fourth day wasn't a convention day, instead she, Pouchi-kun, and Japan walked around the town, seeing the daily life of Japan's people and stopped by the temple to pray.

Then they found a deserted park, she immediately went to the swings. Japan found this endearing as she got onto one of the swings and pushed herself as he sat on the swing next to hers, his dog sitting obediently next to him. He did grew some concern when she kept getting higher and higher until she started to take it easy and soon started to go at a comfortable height as she laughed, enjoying the sensation of it all.

When she stopped swinging they continued their walk until they walked passed a baseball field when she looked up at Japan. "Nihon-ojisan."

"Hai?"

"You know I was reading _xxxHolic_, right?"

"Hai."

"Well… there's one chapter that I'm not entirely sure about."

"And what's that?"

"It was the chapter where the woman tried to stay away from the computer because it took her away from her family, but it's what makes her feel at ease. When she failed to get away from the computer, the time witch came by with a bat, but she wrote the name of a famous katana and it didn't smash the computer but cut it in half."

Japan blinked as he smiled. "Werr… it's no strange matter that when naming a person or thing, it gives it a purpose and or empowers it with its abirity to that of the beings choosing." He said as they stopped by a bench. "Do you know what your name means?"

She nodded. "I do. Fernanda in German means bold, daring, while Luigia in Italian means famous warrior."

He nodded. "Very strong names for a young girr."

"Vati said that he picked that name because it's the opposite of his personality. He's not daring to do things when he's alone, but when Mamma is around he's done things he'd never think of doing. And Mamma picked my other name because she always looks up to Vati for some kind of strength when she's too afraid or doesn't think she's strong enough."

"And do you see the power those names they have given you?"

"I'm like Vati when it comes to not being afraid of a lot of things, but I'm mostly like Mamma because I can do those things, most of the time without a second thought. Sometimes I don't even think about it, I just do."

He nodded. "It's rare to find a name that best suits them because they're either just born and that new rife has yet to revear his or her personarity, or an object that no one has seen before."

"But what I don't understand is how a bat is able to cut like a katana."

He smiled. "Because, by naming a bat after a katana, she has given the bat the abirity similar to the sword."

"Still a bit confusing, but I guess I'll accept it."

He smiled as he stood up. "Is that arr you need to ask?"

"There's another thing…" She said as she looked unsure, the first for the nation.

"Rui-chan? Is something the matter?"

"Well… I asked Onkel Preußen about how the people have treated the nations in the past. He said that you were treated no differently than the people when you walk in civilian areas. But now you're treated like a government secret, ever since the aftermath of World War II."

Japan sat back down on the bench. "It's true… We fought arongside those who were fighting in our honor, but because we're nations we cannot die rike a normal person would. You can say there was some hostirity for those who find that unfair. So we were praced into hiding and onry come out to see how our peopre are from observation arone. We cannot tark to our own peopre in these modern times in fear that if they ask for our name, we just inconviniced them…"

"That sounds hurtful. It's not like you choose to not die, it just happened like that."

He smiled softly as he petted her head. "That is true, most of us don't even know the reason why we're born this way, but we do know that as rong as our people are werr, then that's arr that matters to us."

She smiled. "Because your people are like your kids, a lot of them."

He giggled. "Hai, that is one way of seeing things."

She then looked curious. "But what if you were given a name? Would it give the effect like the bat? Would a nation feel human when given a human name?"

Japan blinked as he thought about it. "I don't know. No one thought about it. Even then, what kind of name can you carr a nation?"

"That does sound hard, even though you've been on this earth for so long."

He smiled once more. "Hai, it does."

She got off the bench and smiled at him. "Let's get some hot chocolate!"

He blinked before laughing a little. "I do suppose the weather carrs for it." He said as he got up and both walked back to his house.

0o0o0o0

Back in Germany's house, it seems that everyone was getting back to their usual routine, but the house was still awkwardly quiet, even for Germany who had been asking for it for some time. The deafening silence was then broken by the sound of the telephone ringing at his desk.

'Finally!' He thought as he pressed the speaker button. "Deutschland Residenz."

_"Vati Deutschland! It's Fern-Lui."_ Said the happy voice of the young girl.

"Hallo. How are things there?"

_"We took an easy day today."_

"And no one questioned you?"

_"Nope, you'd be surprised how many like to dress up. I easily blend right in, except for the blond hair and blue eye thing. But other than that, no problems."_

He chuckled as Italy came in and looked happy to hear the girl's voice.

"Ve! Fern-Lui?"

_"Sì, Mamma Italia."_

"How are you?"

_"I'm doing fine, how about you?"_

"Ve~ It's not the same without you here." Italy whined. "I miss our art time together. Papa Germania misses you a lot too, so does Zio Prussia. Even the dogs and cats and Prussia's bird miss you, they wouldn't leave your room most of the time."

_"Well I only got a few days left, so just hang in there."_

"Ve~ Yes sir!" Italy said with his silly salute, making the German shake his head.

The girl just laughed, which eased the two nations from their previous silent oddity. "Well, I'll talk to you again soon."

"Stay out of trouble." Germany said.

_"Ja! Later!"_ She said as the sound of the phone disconnect was heard.

Germany turned off the speaker and looked at Italy, who was looking at him, both smiling before laughing.

Soon the silent house was filled with sounds once more as the dogs came into the study and causing a small chaotic episode, but Germany didn't mind this time.

0o0o0o0

After dinner, Germany took a shower and was thinking about what he had finished through the few days and how to better plan when the girl stays with another nation's home for a certain period. 'This isn't bad, but we could do better.' He thought as he thought about what to do tomorrow when an idea came to his mind. "Scheiße!"

Italy, who was about to enter the bathroom, heard that and started to apologize.

"Italy?" Germany called out from the bathroom as he finished up his shower. He quickly dressed and went out to see that Italy was still apologizing. "Italy! I'm not mad at you!" He said.

"You're not?"

"No, I just remembered that Christmas is coming up." He said calmly, scratching his head feeling embarrassed on forgetting his favorite holiday

"Ve! That's right!"

"And we still haven't gotten Fern-Lui anything." He said, scratching his head embarrassed that he nearly forgot his favorite holiday in the year.

"Ve! We better get her something tomorrow! Oh! I also have to get Romano, Spain, Japan, and everyone else gifts!"

Germany sighed, knowing the Italian will panic like this as he placed a hand on Italy's head. "Calm down, Italy, we still got time before Christmas. And while we're looking for what to get her, we can also find something for the other nations, though I don't think your brother would want anything from me."

"Ve~ Our first Christmas with our daughter. To think that a bit over a month ago, we were just doing our usual thing as nations, but now I feel a bit like how a mortal feels with a loving family." Italy said with such a calm and serious tone that it slightly shocked the German. "It feels so different, but in a good way. Do you feel that way, Germany?"

Germany blushed lightly. "I haven't really thought about that, but now that you've mentioned it… Ever since we brought her in, everything seemed to change. I'm still trying to wrap my head around being a father no matter how many times I'm reminded that I am. Although it is a temporary thing, I have to admit that it's something special." He then seemed thoughtful.

"What's wrong Germany?"

"I was just thinking about Bruder. I was thinking if he felt like this when he found me."

"Eh? Found you?"

"Oh, well, it's nothing important."

"No, no, I wanna know! You never really did tell me about your childhood."

"Well… I really don't remember much about it." Germany said as he looked to the side. "In fact I can't really remember as far as seeing Prussia at the bed side and just told me that he's my Bruder. Everything else is just a blank."

"What happened?"

He shrugged. "Bruder said that I was in a war."

"A… war…?"

"Like I said, I don't remember much about it, and I never bothered to figure it out."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't be any different. But I knew one thing."

"What's that?"

"That I had to be stronger…"

"Stronger?"

"At first I didn't know why, but when I learned that Prussia would disappear... Including Prussia, I used to have four older brothers, now only Prussia is left and the one who's been with me the longest. I decided that I was going to be stronger so that he wouldn't disappear like they did." He chuckled. "Bruder may be a pain in the ass most times, but he's still mein Bruder. I don't know what I would've done without him." He looked to see that Italy was close to tears. "Hey, don't cry."

"But that was so sweet of you. You care about Prussia so much like that." He said as the stubborn tears finally rolled down.

"Italy…" He said as he used his thumb to wipe away the tears.

Unknown to the two, Prussia was eavesdropping and smiled. 'Oh yeah, I raised an awesome Bruder. But not as awesome as me.' He thought as he heard the two talk some more as he headed out to the door. "Well! Because I'm the awesome Onkel, I'm going to get my niece the most awesome gift that only her awesome Onkel can get her!" He said as he marched out of the door. "And if the shops are closed I'll just go to France! He always lets me stay." He laughed as his little bird fluttered besides him.

0o0o0o0

Soon Japan and Fern-Lui headed up to Germany's house, their week was up and Fern-Lui was back to normal. No dog ears or tail was present as they went up to the door and Japan rang the doorbell. The girl was wearing a Monokai hat, which she was playing with the ears a bit before the door opened to reveal Italy, who immediately hugged the girl as the dogs crowded around them, making Japan giggle at such an adorable sight.

"Germany! Fern-Lui and Japan are back!" Italy called out as he mentioned Japan in and set the girl down.

Fern-Lui was attacked by slobbery licks before she headed to the tall German who bent down and she ran up to him with a hug. "Vati Deutschland!"

"Willkommenes Heim, Fern-Lui." He said as he lifted her up and looked to see Japan and joined in as they caught up with everything before Japan excused himself and, with one last hug from the girl, made his way back home.

"Ve~ I wish he's spend the night with us at least, but I guess he has a lot of work to do once he gets back." Italy said.

"Especially after that convention week." Germany said.

"Ve~ Vati Deutschland…"

"Hm?"

"On our way here I saw Berlin looked really pretty, and there was a lot of people there. Is there an event going on?"

Germany blinked. "You've never been to a Christmas Market?"

"That was a Christmas Market?" She said, her eyes wide.

"There's a few." Germany said, slightly surprised that the girl never seen a Christmas Market. "Have you never been to one?"

She shook her head. "I've always heard about them from Vati, but I never got a chance to see them."

'Just where did her parents live?' He thought as he saw the time. "I don't have any work tomorrow…" He said as he looked at the two and smiled. "How about we have a Christmas Market run tomorrow."

"Really!" She said, eyes wide and seemed excited.

"Ve~ The Christmas Markets are truly the prettiest markets in the world." Italy said with a smile. "It's Germany's favorite place to go at this time of the year."

"Is it that amazing?"

"Ve~ I'm sometimes envious of Germany for that."

"Ve! Really?"

Germany blushed as he scratched his head. "I think I'll make dinner tonight." He said as he headed back inside.

"Ve~ Okay Germany! We'll be in the living room." Italy said as he and the girl were in the living room, sketch books at ready as Fern-Lui drew out everything from memory.

0o0o0o0

After dinner was done, Prussia came in and was greeted with an armful of the girl as he messed her hair, which she just laughed as he tried to tickle her.

"Guess what, Onkel Preußen!"

"Oh! Don't let your awesome Onkel guess."

She giggled. "We're going to the Christmas Market tomorrow."

"You are?"

"Yeah! I've never been to one, and Mamma Italia says it's so amazing that he's jealous of Vati Deutschland for that."

Prussia laughed. "Well of course! It's like you're in a fairy tale when you first step into it. But at night is when the market really shows its beauty."

She smiled and giggled. "I'm too excited to sleep now! I want it to be tomorrow now!"

"Looks like I'm gonna have to tickle you until you go to bed."

"Nein!" She said as she laughed at being tickled. "Okay! Okay! I'll go to bed!"

Prussia let her go as she went up to the bathroom to brush her teeth and head off to bed.

"You make a good uncle, Prussia, ve." Italy said with a smile.

"I just miss messing with the kid." He said as he tried to act like a bad ass.

"Sure." Germany said as he saw Italy go up the stairs, no doubt going to tell her a story. "I got some left overs if you like."

"I'll just have a beer."

"How many have you had today?"

"You're out, aren't you? Otherwise you wouldn't be asking me that."

"Nein. I got some, but you kept stealing mine for this past week."

"You hid your best ones again. Give your awesome brother a break."

"I'll treat you to one when we head out tomorrow."

"Who said I was going?"

"Do you have plans tomorrow?"

Prussia looked away and pouted, a sure sign that it was a no. "How did I raise such an unawesome Bruder?" Germany just stared at him before he couldn't take it anymore. "Okay! I'll go! Quit staring at me like I just got sent to the slammer and you had to cough up a lot of dough to get me out."

"That happened once and you should know that."

Prussia did remember, and that was the day he learned that his brother can torment him if he ever did that again. "Ja…"

"Did you get a gift for her the other day? I noticed that you just suddenly left when I was checking on you."

"You really got this dad thing down a bit much, you know."

"I've been doing that a lot even before she came into this house." He said.

Prussia sighed. "Yeah, I got her something." He said as he smirked. "Something totally awesome from the awesome me."

Germany nodded. "Okay, you don't have to go then."

"Eh? Why?"

"Well, Italy and I went to the Christmas Market the other day, but we ended up getting some of the other nations, but not hers because we have no idea what she would like." He admitted as he patted his brother's shoulder. "But since you already got a gift for her, you can stay here and clean that pig stye you call a room."

"It's not that bad!"

"You got three month old pizza under your bed. Be glad that I'm kind enough to not mention that to Italy, because I know you love his cooking just as much."

Prussia couldn't comment on that.

"Well, Gute Nacht Bruder." He said as he went upstairs, leaving his brother standing dumbfounded.

'Verdammt! Now I have to find a different gift for her!' He thought as he felt the gloom over him. 'Verdamm…'

* * *

Translations:

(1) The pleasure is all mine - Japanese


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter 8: The Wonders of Christmas Markets_

The next morning, Germany laid out a map on the table and looked at every city while remembering what each city had to offer. 'It will take me the whole day just to figure out where to start…'

"Ve~"

He looked back to see Italy. "Guten Morgen, where's Fern-Lui?"

"Still asleep, she must've been too excited."

Germany smiled as he looked back at the map.

"What are you doing, Germany?"

"I'm trying to figure out which city we should go to start off with." He said as he scratched his head.

"Ve~ When she wakes up, she'll pick it out."

"That's probably the best idea." He said as he saw his dogs come down. "I'll be right back."

"Don't be out too long!" He called out as the German and his dogs headed out of the door as Prussia dragged himself into the kitchen.

"Where'd West go?"

"Just to walk the boys, you hungry?"

"I'm gonna go back to bed…"

"Ve~?" He said as he started to prepare breakfast when the girl came in just like Prussia, except she sat down at the table. "Oh, you're finally up."

"Sì…"

"You still sound a bit tired."

"Sì…"

"Well, Papa Germania left a map out for you to choose which city we can start for your Christmas Market trip."

She looked at the map and took a look at it then went to look for a pencil and started to circle five cities and place numbers in them.

At that point Germany came in and the dogs went into the kitchen, waiting to be fed. Once he got that done, he looked to see that Italy was close to done and the girl looking at the map. "Guten Morgen, Fern-Lui. Did you pick out which city you want to go to?"

She nodded. "I even numbered them."

He looked at it and smiled. "You picked out good ones to start with."

She smiled. "Vati always talks about the Christmas Markets and what cities has which because each market is unique."

"And they are, some even look like they haven't changed since the fifteenth century."

She giggled. "I can't wait to go!"

"After breakfast and getting dressed."

"I know!" She said as the dogs came up to greet her a good morning.

Germany headed out of the room, telling Italy that he was going to wake up Prussia and set out to do that. He found his brother, face down on the pillow and one leg hanging off the edge of the bed and sighed. He prodded his brother first, calling out, and if those didn't work he simply flipped the mattress to the side, letting his brother fall off the bed.

"Damnit, West…"

"Breakfast is done now." He said simply as he grabbed his brother by the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the room.

"I can walk!"

Germany stopped his dragging, let go of the shirt, and waited for his brother to get up.

"Help me up?" He asked as he stuck his arm up to be grabbed.

He saw that coming and helped his brother up before arriving at the table where Italy was serving breakfast.

"So, which one are we going?" Prussia asked as his chick popped out from his hair, and joined in.

"Dortmund." Germany said, making his brother nearly choke.

"That will take the whole day! That's our largest Christmas market in all Germany!"

"I know…" The blond German said with a smile. "A great choice in my opinion."

"Ve… I feel so awful not knowing anything about your Christmas markets, Germany." Italy said.

"Then you have the chance to now." Fern-Lui said with a hum. "Vati always told me about what each market has, and he always raved about Dortmund's markets. Is there really a huge tree there?"

"Should be." Germany said with a smile. "Fourty-five meters high, made up of 1,700 fir trees and alit with 13,000 lights."

"Ve!" Both the girl and Italy exclaimed, not even registering just how huge the tree will be.

Prussia laughed. "Sure the tree's impressive, but the market has about three hundred stalls of practically everything there is to offer." He said as he figured that this isn't a bad place to start after all if there was going to be so many variety.

"Though the programs are also something to look for as well." Germany said. "You might enjoy that, Fern-Lui."

"Vati told me about that." She said as she finished her breakfast. "Thank you for breakfast!" She took her plate and placed it on the side of the sink and ran up the stairs, causing Prussia to chuckle.

"She can't wait to go." He said as he finished his breakfast as well. "What other cities did she put down?"

Germany took a look, causing Italy to look over his shoulder. "Bad Hoenningen, Ludwigsburg, Ulm, and Cologne." He said, making his brother whistle.

"Good picks on her part."

"Ja."

"Ve? What do each city have?" Italy said, making Prussia laugh.

"I think I'll let West tell ya, since these are his markets." He said as he and his bird excused themselves.

Germany shook his head as Italy looked at him expectantly. "Which ones would you like to know about?"

Italy shrugged. "You know them better than I do…" He said, feeling a bit left out from not knowing a thing about his best and closest friend's markets. He knew they were famous in the world, but he hasn't heard much more than that. The only Christmas market he went to was Berlin's, and he was blown away from that.

"Well…" Germany looked at the map where the girl circled and numbered and looked at the second one, Cologne. "Well, Cologne is also a fairly large market as well, seven in total, four major ones being among them."

"Ve? Is it the second largest?"

"It is pretty large…" Germany said with yet another smile that Italy hasn't seen for such an extended period. "They attract at about two million visitors each year."

"Ve!"

"But the most impressive is the one around the Cologne Cathedral."

"Cathedral?"

"You'd be amazed how many cathedrals and churches I have around." He said as he continued to explain. "Though you might find it a bit imposing, but there are wooden pavilions beneath the largest tree in Rhineland and watch artisians at work, so you can enjoy the artistic side of my people. Then there's the Alter Markt, which I believe Fern-Lui will enjoy greatly because there's a lot of things to do for her there along with other children her own age. The atmosphere there is very idyllic with half-timbered stalls. But the oldest of the four in Cologne is Neumarkt, a shopping area against the Church of St. Aposteln as the backdrop. Some of the stalls are still around since the seventies." He chuckled at that. "Then there's the fairy tale area in Rudolfplatz, where the backdrop is of the medival Hahnentorburg with fairy tail figures and other eye catching illuminations."

"Oh! Because the Brothers Grimm are Germans, right? Is that why there's fairy tale themes?"

"Ja. I think she would also enjoy that." He said as he continued. "There's also a Medieval Christmas Market that's outside the Chocolate museum and a Floating Christmas Market onboard the MS Wappen von Maniz…"

"You know each market by heart, don't you?"

"Of course." He said as he continued. "Then the final one earned to mention in Cologne is the Stadtgarten, it's fairly new and located near the oldest park in Cologne. It's a far more relaxed with a village like atmosphere, but still has entertainment that will keep you and Fern-Lui happy."

Italy was very impressed at what that city has to offer. "Are all your Christmas Markets this amazing?"

"They wouldn't be envied all over if it wasn't." He said with an unexpected teasing grin. "You said so yourself that you were envious of me because of what you saw in Berlin."

Italy blushed. 'I've never seen this side of him before.' He thought as he looked at the map and pointed to Ulm. "What does this city offer?"

Germany looked and smiled. "I'll tell you one thing, this city has the tallest church tower in the world."

"T-Tallest!"

"You'll see when we get there. It truly is a sight to see." He said with a soft feature as he continued. "Ulm has about more than 120 stalls to create a festive atmosphere. There's always something different there. There's also a live Nativity scene and all sorts of events. Though the Steiff toys are also very well known, and many enthusiasts come to purchase one of their teddy bears or other stuffed animals. Great quality if I have anything to say about the company."

"Ve~ I wonder if she would like one as a gift?"

"I plan on getting her one." He said as he looked at the remaining circled cities on the map. "Bad Hoenningen is more of a nostalgic market there. It has a very cozy atmosphere with live music, festivally decorated town, and some things that children will enjoy. But the main thing I like about this one is the Hohe Haus, the oldest secular building that is a museum of local heritage, and at around this time they're decked with the Advent scenes including the Nativity scenes."

Italy hummed, seeing that Germany seemed to soften when he mentioned this city. "What about Ludwigsburg?" He asked, getting interested in the markets now more than ever.

"It's a baroque market square kind."

"Baroque?" Italy said, interested when he heard the artistic term.

Germany nodded and continued. "The enterance itself is arched with lots of lights and there are about 170 stalls. There are two baroque churches that are decorated beautifully with lights, giving the area a romantic and historic flavor unique to that area alone." He said softly as his whole feature seemed to ease dramatically. "Ludwigsburg is regarded as the most beautiful of its kind…"

Italy was completely taken aback at how much the German was at ease at mentioning the city's market. To him, it made the German look… beautiful? He blushed as salvation of the silence came in the form of a loud and, to Germany's dismay, obnoxious Prussia and an excitable young girl.

"Are we ready to go or what?" Prussia asked.

"Do we look ready to head out?" Germany asked, not dress appropriately to handle the cold weather, nor was Italy.

"Well hurry up!" Prussia said, while the girl was patient enough.

"Then you take the car and meet us in Dortmund." Germany said, picking up his plate and placed it in the sink, which he was in the process of washing.

"Eh? You're allowing me the car?"

"You're taking Fern-Lui with you since you're both ready, Onkel Preußen."

Prussia sighed as the little bird poked its beak on top of his head. "Ow! What the hell?" He said to the bird.

Fern-Lui tugged on his pants, gaining his attention. "I didn't have a chance to spend time with you, Onkel. So can we go?"

'Damn… this is one time I wish she didn't look a lot like Italy.' He thought and sighed. "Okay, where's the keys, West?"

"In the basket down the hall at the front where they're usually are." Germany said as he finished cleaning the dishes. "Italy and I will be right behind you."

"Yeah, yeah…" He said with a grin. "Take your sweet time you two." He sang, Germany catching on what his brother was thinking.

"East…" He said, but the Prussian and the girl already headed out of the door. He sighed as he went up the stairs to get dressed, which Italy followed like the loyal puppy he sometimes made out to be.

0o0o0o0

Prussia, though an ex-nation, still has abilities of a nation when it came to travel. He made it to Dortmund in a half hour and, because it was still daytime, the market wasn't lit, but it still held much of its atmospheric charm. But what's important to him is that the stalls were open. "Wanna have a look around?"

"Ja!" She said as she grabbed his hand and they walked into the market.

Prussia had a sense of nostalgia when the girl held his hand. It reminded him when Germany was about her size and held his hand just like now. Those were great times for him, even though his nation name is now nowhere to be found in maps anymore, he was still a part of Germany thanks to his little brother. Then he remembered what his brother and Italy talked about when the girl was with Japan and couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as he tightened his grip on the girl's hand, which was returned.

Fern-Lui was glad to see her Onkel was spending time with her and was happy to see that he was happy as well. Then she saw the huge tree and stopped to stare at it, making the man chuckle.

"Never seen a tree this big before, huh?"

She shook her head. "Never…" She said as she smiled sadly. "I wish mein vati und mi mamma can see this too…"

"That's right, you never went to any of the Christmas markets before now, huh." He said remembering the revealing fact.

She nodded. "Mein vati loved them a lot, and sometimes, when he and Mamma thought that I was fast asleep, Vati would tell Mamma that he feels guilty that I missed out on seeing this." She said a bit sadly. "I don't like to see Vati sad…"

Prussia was taken aback on how the girl revealed a bit about her life and couldn't help but be a tad curious. "So how did you and your family spend Christmas?"

"Like anyone would. Vati would find the perfect Christmas tree and me and Mamma would decorate it while Vati and Onkel would go out once more, most likely to find or make gifts for everyone, and my auntie would make pancakes in Christmas shapes."

"Sounds like a calm Christmas."

She smiled. "It is before Christmas Eve, on that day we go to whoever is hosting a party and have a great time with everyone. I get to open at least one gift from each of my family members and Vati and Onkel take the rest back home to be open in the morning." She giggled. "I love this time of the year… I get to see everyone in one place and play in the snow all day."

Prussia chuckled. "I agree, this time of year is practically the only time West gets in touch with his softer side, even though he denies it. But you should see Germany in other seasons as well. Spring is a definite must see because everything looks so new and it seems that we're reborn or something like that."

"I would like to see that." She said.

"Though, Japan's place has the sakura, and they're so damn amazing too. Yeah, we should definitely swing by his place to see the blossoms before they all flutter away."

She giggled as she heard Italy's familiar verbal tick and turned in time to see the shocked experession of the Italian seeing the large Christmas tree, which Germany had the simple pleasure of closing the shocked gapping mouth closed. She ran up and hugged the Italian who hugged back just as enthusiastically.

"I see you didn't get into trouble." Germany said as he went up to his brother, who pouted.

"Are you telling the awesome me that I get into trouble?"

"You get into loads of trouble if I don't make sure." He said as his hand was grabbed by Italy and Prussia's hand was grabbed by the girl and they were dragged to one of many stalls to look around in.

0o0o0o0

By the time they went through all the stalls, it was nearly one.

"We can come back here to see the lights, can't we?" Fern-Lui asked as they made their way out with a few bags of things as gifts to other nations.

"Of course." Germany said. "This is just a shopping run for the most part."

She smiled happily as she looked up at Prussia, who was carrying most of the bags. "Do you need help?"

"Nah! This is nothing that the awesome me can't handle." He said as he slightly glared at his brother. 'But it's still unawesome that mein bruder would do this to me.'

"So are we going to Cologne next?"

"I don't see why not." Germany said as he looked at Prussia. "East, would you mind taking the bags back to my place?"

"Sure, not a problem…" He said grudgingly, but was secretly thankful because he got the most awesome gift for his (niece), and he wants to hide it immediately.

"Okay, meet us in Cologne in front of the Cathedral."

"Okay, West." He said as he went up to the car, owned by Germany, as the three went to Italy's car, which Germany took the wheel and they made their way there, which took no time for the nations.

"I'm still amazed on how we got here so quickly."

"The perks of being nations." Italy said as they went out and, like they did in Dortmund, both the Italian and the girl were surprised to by the sight of the area, and when they got close to the cathedral, Italy started to mention the artitecture of the building itself as they waited for Prussia to come to them.

Once Prussia did show up, they looked around and purchased some things for lunch and Italy had a taste of the mulled wine and mentioned that he still liked his Italian wine but it wasn't bad, while Fern-Lui enjoyed some of the sweets. They went to all seven of the markets before it was Germany's turn to put away the bags back at his house.

"We're going to Ulm next, and it'll be up in lights by the time we arrive there." Prussia said as he was about to head to the car when Germany mentioned over to tell him something. "What's up West?"

"Well, I was planning on getting her one of the Steiff stuff animals for a gift, but I can't think of what to get."

"You want me swing by there with them and tell you what catches her fancy?"

"Basically."

Prussia, although thinking that his two gifts are still awesome, promised his brother to let him know and parted ways.

0o0o0o0

Once they did arrive at Ulm, the first thing the Italian and the girl noticed before even arriving at the market is the tallest church tower.

"Ve~" Italy awed as his honey eyes went wide at the sheer height of it. "Germany wasn't kidding when he said this is the tallest church tower in the world…"

"Yeah, you should've seen it when it was being built. This proves that us Germans aren't afraid of heights and are master builders."

"It's made in the Gothic era, correct?" Fern-Lui asked.

"How'd you know?"

"I'm a history nut." She said simply as she looked at the tower. "It was built in the fourteenth century but wasn't fully completed until the nineteenth century."

"That's right." Prussia said as he parked. "And do you know why it isn't referred to a cathedral?"

"Because it never housed a bishop."

"Correct!" He said as Italy was impressed.

"What else about the church?" Italy asked, very interested now.

"Work halted sometime in the fifteenth century due to political and religious factors… which included the Reformation, Thirty Year's War and the War of Spanish Succession…"

Italy blinked when he heard the Thirty Year's War.

Prussia knew about the Thirty Year's War as well, a bit too well.

"And there was also the economic factor when the discovery of America in 1492, and sea routes in India in 1497. But work resumed by 1817 and by May 31, 1890, the Lutheran church, Ulm Minster, was completed."

"Ve! Amazing!"

"But in the Second World War, it only had minor damage during an air raid in 1944."

"I remember that day…" Prussia said. "Most of the medieval town was wiped away from that raid…" He looked at the now lit area. "But it's still there." He then mentioned them to come along and headed made their way to the stall where there were the Steiff toys and he paid attention to what the girl mostly went up to or showed any sort of interest.

Soon they stopped by the front of the church when Germany finally found them, which he was pounced by the Italian and the girl, spouting at how amazing the church was. The German then heard from his brother what he should get from the Steiff stall and took note of it.

Soon they headed to Bad Hoenningen, and enjoyed their time there as Fern-Lui received a small gift from the Santa Claus there and enjoyed the kid activities as the three nations enjoyed some warm treat before moving onto Ludwigsburg.

And just like Germany said, the city of Ludwigsburg is indeed the most beautiful that they have seen. Italy was completely blown away by the gentle lights around the market and the baroque churches. It was like walking into a dream as the group enjoyed the festive atmosphere as they went from stall to stall before going back to Dortmund and Cologne for the lights. However, when he looked at Germany, he felt like painting as he saw the lights played along the nation's features as he was smiling and laughing. He blushed when the other asked if he was okay, and covered his growing blush by saying it was a bit cold and got closer to the other, who was so used to it by now.

0o0o0o0

From there they headed back to Germany's house, which Germany carried the sleeping Italy, bridal style, up to their shared room while Prussia carried the very asleep girl to her room, where he took off the winter coat and boots, tucked her in, and whispered a good night to her before joining his brother in the kitchen for a beer.

"Man what a day…" He said as he sat down at the table and took a swing of the beer.

Germany nodded as he took a gulp of his beer. "This is definitely a good day."

"Then you got work tomorrow…"

"Ja…" Germany said as he took another swing. "But it was worth it. My boss isn't giving me a lot of paper work."

Prussia chuckled. "This will be our first Chirstmas with her…"

"Ja…" He said as he noticed the seriousness in his usually obnoxious brother. "What's wrong?"

"I was wondering how many other Christmases we'll have with her… I keep reminding myself that she doesn't belong in this world…"

Germany knew this as well and sighed. "I know…" He said as he watched his brother, who was staring at his beer bottle, no doubt empty now.

"She's an awesome kid, ya know? I can't imagine adjusting to some other place like she would." He said as he placed the empty bottle on the table. "She told me that her vati told her about the markets, but was guilty that he wasn't able to show her each year…"

"Her family probably lives somewhere that isn't Germany. And maybe in a financial problem so they couldn't go as often as they wanted." He said reasonably.

"That's not what it sounded like." Prussia said as he looked at his brother.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm not completely sure, and what you said does sound reasonable, but something tells me that something's off about it."

"Then don't think about it…" Germany said."

"But-"

"If she doesn't want to talk about it, then we shouldn't push it." He said as he finished his beer. "I know there's something off. She wouldn't be here if there's nothing serious going on where her family is now." He said as he placed his bottle down like his brother. "But even I know from experience that there's things I can tell others, while still keeping most of it to myself until I feel that I can fully open to everything."

Prussia knew this, because he was also the same. "Like after World War II and after the Cold War…"

Germany nodded and both shared a moment of silence before Prussia sighed and got up.

"I'm hitting the sack…"

Germany followed suit and the night was quiet.

0o0o0o0

Fern-Lui woke up sometime around midnight and looked out of her window to see a full moon, sat up, grabbed the Iron Crosses, and put her hands together while staring at the bright moon. "Merciful one, hear my heart's prayer, please keep those I hold dear from harm in this world and the world I lived before. I pray that, if harm does come to them, then you will give them the strength to go on even in the darkest hours and protect them from any evil that is forced upon them or try to steal them away. Ahmen." She said as she looked at the crosses in her hands and kissed them.

"I miss you so much, but don't worry about me, I'm safe here. Just…" A tear escaped and she quickly wiped it away. "I don't know what's going on where you are… Vati… Mamma…" She closed her eyes as a couple tears escaped through before Gino came up and licked the tears away, making her look and pet the cat. "Thank you Gino…" She said as the cat 'venyaa' happily before getting back into bed, still holding onto the crosses. "I wonder if they're wondering if I'm okay too?" This time she was responded with Lutz's deeper meow and looked to see that he had joined Gino, who was rubbing up against the darker cat affectionately. She smiled as she petted both cats. "Thanks you two, I feel a bit better now…" She yawed as she started to drift back to sleep.

* * *

Hey guys! If you want to know more about the Christmas Markets, then you could try out this site that I got most of the information from:

http:/ www. germany-christmas-market .org. uk/

There's not a lot of pictures on it, but enough to get the view of what each city has to offer.


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter 9: Tomato Box Fairy_

Germany woke up early as usual, got Italy's arms off of his, got up to dress and make himself look presentable, went down to the kitchen to get something quick to eat, and was about to head out when he heard the soft pats of a pair of feet and turned to see the girl, obviously just woke up, look at him with tired eyes and went up to her.

"Guten Morgen, Fern-Lui." He said as he picked her up. "Why are you up so early?"

"I heard you go down here…" She said sleepily as she rubbed her eye. "And I wanna tell you to have a good day at work and don't be late coming home, but be safe…"

He was touched by this and hugged her. "Danke. That's very kind of you." He looked at her again and set her down. "Now, can you make sure Italien und Onkel Preußen are behaving themselves and not damage the house while I'm out?"

She giggled and nodded. "I will!"

He chuckled and patted her head, earning more giggles. "I shouldn't be at work for too long, but I'll call if there's a change in plans, good?"

"Ja!" She said as the German stood up, headed to the door and waved to her before walking out into the cold.

0o0o0o0

For the most part of the morning, she drew pictures in her sketch book before hearing Prussia come down and announced that he was going to hang with France for awhile and she told him to be careful and have a great time. Then Italy came down and started preparing some noodles for pasta that they'll be having for lunch, which she helped out and both cleaned the place afterwards. Once the task was done, she and Italy walked the dogs out into the cold, snow covered land.

While they were out, they headed to the park and both the Italian and the girl couldn't help but laugh at how silly the three dogs were as Blackie and Aster were doing their own version of sledding on their sides while Berlitz ran alongside them until he got into a deep pocket of snow, in which the two dogs came back to dig him out.

Once they were back home, Italy was starting lunch as Fern-Lui gave the boys a bath, which thanks to all the energy spent playing in the snow, were well behaved in the warm water, dried down with a towel, and then headed to the fireplace to further dry off by the fire and sleep.

0o0o0o0

A little after three, Germany returned from work and like he said earlier, he didn't have to stay at his office for long and found the Italian and the girl on the couch, having a siesta. He saw that there was a blanket over the two, but the Italians clothes were tossed to the ground and sighed. 'You think he would've learned by now…' He thought as he folded the clothes, noting that the pair of underwear were missing and, therefore, the Italian was wearing underwear. He saw that the girl, at least, folded her clothes and placed the Italians clothes next to the girl's before looking over at the two and couldn't help but smile.

Both Italian and girl did look alike with their faces pressed together side by side, and he took note at how the Italian had his arm around the girl and recognized it as a protective embrace. He saw the girl looked to be in pain as she whimpered before Italy hummed, causing the girl to look peaceful once more and nuzzled up against the Italian murmuring "Mamma", which the Italian responded by wrapping his arm more around the girl.

He shook his head, but he found it endearing that the Italian, though useless as a fighter, can be protective when finding something to protect. He placed another blanket over them, found a book to read and sat down in an arm chair not too far from the siesta duo and passed the time reading.

0o0o0o0

Not long as he finished reading the second page, he heard something go through the mail slot on his door and got up to get it. He saw a few bills and a letter from his boss that he remembered mentioning earlier at work, and one envelope that he knew right away without even looking at the return address.

"America…" He said with a sigh as he went to his home office to place the mail on his desk while bringing America's envelope back to the living room and opened it. And he looked at the decked out Christmas tree on the card cover and opened it to see that it was an invite. "Not surprised…" He said as he read the time and location of the Christmas party and rubbed his eyes at the 'if you don't come, something bad will happen' line. "Really, America? You have to use that line _again_?" He murmured as he knew for a fact that Italy would beg him to go if he had a hold of this invite.

But, last year America was busy with other things and that left with the other nations some breathing room to themselves. At least he got a breather, he noticed that a few felt a little out of place during the holidays without the usual forced invite, but it was quickly passed. Last year was also a lonely time for him because Italy spent his Christmas with Romano, which he was sure the elder Italian threatened the younger to stay and not come to his place. And his brother was somewhere, he didn't bother tracking his whereabouts anymore. Italy did come over later Christmas Day to give him his gift, wanting to personally deliver it, most likely an excuse to come over but he was welcomed in anyway.

But now that Fern-Lui is in the picture, for now, this would be the first time that she would learn just how outrageous the nation's Christmas would be like, but then again she would enjoy it, being a child and all. And he remembered that Russia didn't really celebrate Christmas on the traditional date, so there's a likely chance that he wouldn't be there. Then again he did show some likeliness towards the girl since Thanksgiving, which he wasn't sure the nation celebrated or not… most likely not.

He sighed as the answer was clear to him as the snow on the ground outside, they were going to the party.

Soon siesta was done and the two got up, dressed, and both greeted Germany with hugs and random chit chat before Italy went into the kitchen while the girl asked what the book was about, which the German explained what he had read so far and saw the time to let his dogs out once more.

0o0o0o0

When dinner came around, the German mentioned the invite, and like he expected Italy seemed really excited and the girl seemed happy about it as well when the phone rang. He excused himself to answer it and the caller was not what he expected to hear. "Finland?"

_"Hey Germany, did I interrupt anything?"_

"No, just finishing up dinner, how may I help you?" He asked, hearing the nation laugh a little.

_"Sorry for calling unexpectantly, but I was wondering if I could borrow Fern-Lui on Christmas Eve."_

Germany knew the nation was deemed Santa around this time of the year, and he knew the nation long enough to know he can trust him. "May I ask why?" But it never hurt to ask.

_"Well, I figured she would help me out with delivering gifts. I am busy this time of year and I think she would enjoy it."_

He nodded understandably, but he knew that the girl was old enough to know what she wants when given the choice. "I don't mind, but I have to let her know first and I'll tell you if she wants to or not."

_"Okay, I just wanted your okay first. And ask Italy as well, since he's the 'mom' and should know as well."_

"Right. Did you get invited by America as well?"

_"I did, that's one of the reasons why I'm calling because I can pick her up along with Sealand, do the Christmas thing, and I'll drop her back off. I think she might enjoy it. Seeing all our houses from a bird's eye view."_

"I guess. Thank you for calling, Finland. I'll let you know what the decision is."

_"Can you call tomorrow? I'll be busy after this."_

"No problem." He said as both said their last say before hanging up and rejoining the two.

"Who was that?" Italy asked.

"That was Finland."

"Ve~ It's been awhile since he last called."

"Ja." He said as he finished his water and looked at the girl. "He asked to borrow you on Christmas Eve."

"How come?"

"Oh, that's right you don't know about Finland!" Italy said. "Well, Finland is Santa Claus around this time of year."

"Huh? Santa Claus?" Looking completely lost.

"Sì! Sì! I bet he wants you to help deliver gifts!"

"That sounds fun!" She said and the excited chat between the two continued.

'Well the answer's clear.' Germany thought with a smile as he gathered the finished dishes and cleaned them in the sink.

0o0o0o0

The next day, the trio started putting up decorations before Germany headed out to find a tree, brought it back, and all of them decorated it.

"It looks beautiful!" She said as the lights, tensil, ornaments, and other such things were on the tree.

"But there's one thing missing." Germany said, making the girl confused.

"Sì, sì, there's something really important that's missing on this tree!" Italy said, also knowing where this was going.

She looked at the tree and thought everything was accounted for before realizing what the two nations were talking about. "There's nothing on top of the tree!" She said as Germany took out a delicate looking angel from the box and gave it to her.

"Would you do the honor of placing her at the top?" He asked, seeing the girl nod shyly as he picked her up and she carefully placed the beautiful porcelien angel on top of the tree.

Then they stood in front of the tree a moment longer before the German made dinner, which neither complained as the food was still good, but not as good as Italy's.

0o0o0o0

It was sometime after dinner that Prussia decided to come back, looking flushed and Germany, knowing the signs of a drunk brother, dragged him up to the bathroom, turn the water so that it was cold, but not too cold and placed the ex-nation under the spray, which the albino started to curse and shouted at him, the definite sign that he was back to his senses.

After that bit of excitement, Prussia ate what was left of the dinner, though it was small, when Fern-Lui came and asked him how his visit was, which began a long, self-centered tale about how awesome he was and the like, which the girl did enjoy as she laughed at some of the things that the ex-nation found funny and the bird fluttered around and sometimes landing on the girl's shoulder and nuzzled against her.

0o0o0o0

Soon she was in bed and Italy was tucking her in when she asked for a story. He thought of one and told her. "Have you ever heard of the Tomato Box Fairy?"

Germany happened to be within earshot of them, about to wish the girl a good night, but stopped to listen to the story.

The girl shook her head as she was eagar to listen to the tale.

"Well! The story starts with the little Tomato Fairy who went into the woods one day and got lost. The Tomato Fairy had a crate of tomatoes that he received from his brother, but it was far too heavy for him. So he figured if he ate a few it wouldn't be so heavy. This worked for a while until he realized he got lost and all the tomatoes were gone. You could imagine how scared this fairy was when he realized that he was alone in the woods with nothing else to eat. But then he heard something deep within the forest and hid into the crate and made sure the lid was hard to open. He waited and waited and thought he was safe until he heard a voice and something tapping the top of the box, making him yelp in surprise, alerting the scary being. Quickly, he told the scary being that he was the Tomato Box Fairy, and that they should be friends and play with each other.

_"There's someone in here." _The scary being said, scaring the fairy as he felt the crate move and started to painic.

_"Wait! Stop! What's the point of seeing the Tomato Box Fairy's insides!" _He cried out and all too soon the lid opened and he started to cry out and apologized to the scary being and asking him not to kill him because he was still a virgin, and there's no use killing a virgin after all and plead the scary being that he didn't want to die."

Germany face-palmed when he remembered that was how he and Italy met. 'She didn't need to know what you said word per word…' He thought as the story continued.

"The Tomato Fairy cried and begged until the scary being asked if he was related to his grandfather, the great Fairy Emperor. He stopped crying and was immediately relieved that the scary being wasn't going to hurt him and figured that he knew his grandfather."

"What's the scary being?" She asked.

"Ve~ I'm getting there." Italy said with his carefree smile. "The fairy saw that the scary being was a tall, muscular, and commanding human, but he figured that the human was very nice and not at all scary as he was told. But then the human hit him with the back of the rifle, but it wasn't too hard, but hard enough that it hurts a bit and captured the poor little fairy."

"What happens next?" She asked, into the story as she sat up.

"Well, the human brought the fairy to his home and immediately liked it there and didn't mind at all that he was captured. This confused the human and more than once did he try to free the fairy for any sense of how a real captured fairy should act, but the Tomato Fairy always comes back to eat, sleep, and sing to his captor."

The girl giggled as Germany shook his head, remembering that time all too well.

"Well, the Tomato Fairy's brother didn't like this at all and demanded to have him back and brought an army to get him back, but the human let the fairy go without any resistance and the Tomato Fairy was happy to be home with his brother." Italy said as he hummed. "He was happy to eat tomatoes again, but then he felt a bit lonely without his human captor. So when he heard that the human was around, he went up to him. At first the human didn't want anything to do with him, but the he proposed a friendship with the human. The human never had friends before so, as strange as it was, he accepted the friendship and they lived happily ever after."

Germany face-palmed, but couldn't help but grin at the ending. 'That Italy…' He thought as he saw the girl giggle and hugged the Italian before being tucked in once more and Italy kissed the girl on the forehead, much like a mother would, and told her good night.

When Italy shut off the light and looked to see the German, he was startled, but immediately relaxed. "Hey Germany, you wanted to say good night to her too?"

"Ja. You go on ahead."

"Okay." He said as he immediately headed to Germany's room, which the German shook his head before going into the girl's room and patted her head.

"Gute Nacht, Fern-Lui."

"Gute Nacht, Vati Deutschland." She said as she smiled and snuggled under the covers a bit more and looked to be asleep.

Germany smiled softly as he exited the room and entered his, seeing Italy's clothes on the floor, folded them, dressed for bed, and went to his side, which the Italian latched his arms around his and told the other good night and turned off the light. He closed his eyes for about five seconds when he heard the sound of a camera taking a picture and opened his eyes to see Prussia just running out of his room. "East!" He called, waking up the Italian as he got out and chased his brother down to the Prussian's bedroom door and spent five minutes trying to get the man to come out.

"What's going on?" The girl asked as she stuck her head out of the doorway.

"You're Onkel being an idiot!" Germany said as he sighed. He tucked the girl back in bed and headed back to his room.

"Ve~ Is everything okay?" Italy asked as Germany settled back to his side of the bed.

"Ja, Italien, just mein Bruder up to something." He said as he rubbed his eyes. "I'll deal with him in the morning." He sighed as the Italian latched his arms around his once more and slept peacefully that night.


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter 10: America's Christmas Party_

Soon the day arrived and the unusual family got onto a plane heading to Washington D.C. Both Germans were not huge fans of flying, but for different reasons. For Prussia there was just plain nothing to do and he can't do the Mile High Club when his brother is around, the spoil sport. For Germany, it's listening to the Italian talk and talk and talk, and he would either apologize to the persons who were just as annoyed as he was or try to quiet the Italian down, which usually caused the other to whimper and cry, and that just makes him feel guilty and the process starts all over.

But, before the nations entered the plane, Fern-Lui showed some anxiety and uncertainness about the plane. When asked she responded that she never once been on a plane before. Italy calmed her down that it wasn't something to be afraid of and to pretend they're sardines in a can, which earned a giggle from her and are now in this situation.

Germany looked at the girl between him and Italy, who was working in a sketchbook and the girl is his current model. So there was some peace for the first few hours of the flight. His brother, who had to sit at a different seat, snored loudly that there were complaints worse than if Italy talked nonstop. He sighed as he reached over and grabbed the snoring man's cheek and pulled it a bit before the snore became a yelp of pain.

"The hell West?" Prussia groaned, rubbing his abused cheek.

"You're snoring has risen the dead."

"Like you're any better?"

"Ve, but he doesn't snore at all." Italy cut in, careful not to use the nations' names. "He's really quiet."

Germany face-palmed as Prussia blinked.

"What else about Bruder that he does i-" Prussia was about to continue when Germany grabbed his tie, that Germany forced him to wear, and tightened it to the point where he could've choked.

"You didn't tighten your tie properly, Bruder…" Germany said as he gave him a look that promised of pain if he continued.

Italy didn't know what to do and looked at the girl, who was waking up and asked for something to drink, which he pressed the button to summon the stuerdess and made the small order, which Germany was back in his seat and the girl looked over to see Prussia rubbing his throat and glaring at the blond German.

"Onkel… Are you okay?" She said sleepily, making her just as adorable as Italy, and both Germans knew it.

"I'm fine… Your _vati_ here was making sure that I look my best." He said.

"Oh, okay." She said with a smile. "You look great Onkel."

"Danke, at least someone can appreciate just how awesome your onkel is." He said, his pride renewed, much to the other German's dismay.

0o0o0o0

When they finally arrived, they saw America greeting them with a sign that even Prussia was embarrassed to look.

"Hey guys!" America called waving the sign saying 'The Happy Family Group', in bright colors and, dare they deny it, glitter, and heeps amount of it that it started to come off the poster board and land on top of the American.

"Hey!" Italy called out as the girl ran up to the American.

"Uncle!" She called out, which America responded by bending down and welcomed the tackling hug.

"Whoa! Ho!" He said as he was nearly knocked back. "You have your dad's strength! You nearly knocked me over!" He lifted her up, making her squeal in delight at being lifted so easily. "And yet you're so light as a feather!"

There was a crowd watching the crazy American that, unknowingly, is their nation personified as the trio made it to them and America set the girl down.

"So guys," America said, smiling that Hollywood smile and the enthusiasim similar to a child in a candy store. "How was your trip?"

"Long…" The Germans groaned while Italy whined.

"Sorry, but what can we do?" He said with a sheepish smile as he mentioned them to follow him. "My brother has the car, so just grab your bags and we'll head over to my house here. I assume you two are okay being bunked together?" He asked pointing to Germany and Italy, making the younger German blush while the older sniggered.

"Oh, they'll be more than okay with it." Prussia said as he laughed, which he was rewarded with the whack at the back of his head.

"Not a word from you." Germany warned as he said that it was fine.

"Okay! And is it okay if your girl bunks as well, I learned there are a few people are okay bunking together and those… not so much." He said with a bit of a nervous laugh.

"As long as there's a good lock in the room France is in, then there will not be a problem."

"Super!" He said as they reached to baggage claim. "So Fern, how did you like the flight here?"

"That was the first time I've been on a plane."

"Really! Man did you miss out." He said. "Did you know that the idea of flight as transportation came from here?"

She nodded. "The Wright Brothers invented the first airplane, Kitty."

"You know your history."

"I'm a history nut." She said making the American laugh.

"That's good! One of my hobbies is archeology."

"Really? That's so cool!" She said as they waited for their bags.

Once the bags are in their procession, America called up his brother, who he reminded that it was Canada, and their ride came up.

"Hello Uncle Canada!" Fern-Lui called out to Canada, who was a bit startled that she noticed him as she sat next to his polar bear at the back seat.

"H-Hello, Fern-Lui…" He said softly as America told him to take the passenger seat.

"Hey Canada." Prussia said as he sat next to the girl in the back, the bear in-between them now.

"Hello Prussia, flight okay?"

"Long and boring. I hate flights like that." He said as Italy and Germany filled up the remaining two seats and America headed out of the airport.

0o0o0o0

When they arrived to America's house, they were immediately showed to their rooms, which the family of three were sharing one while Prussia was staying in the neighboring one, then joined with the other nations in the large room with a big, heavily decorated tree.

"Hey everyone! The family has arrived!" America announced, barely dodging Germany's headlocks. This was followed by a feminine squeal and Hungary appeared before anyone can blink.

"The lady of the hour!" She announced as she held onto the girl.

"Néni Magyarországon!" She said happily as she hugged the woman.

"Hello Hungary." Italy said happily.

"Hello Italy, I'm so glad you're able to make it. You too as well, Germany."

"Hallo…" Germany said as he looked to see his brother is missing. "Now where is he?"

"If you mean Prussia, he just swiped Spain and met up with France."

Germany groaned. "Nothing good 'ever' comes out when those three are together.

Hungary sighed. "Agreed." She said as she held the girl close. "Now, sweetie, you have to stay close to either me, your daddy, Japan, and anyone else who's not bothering you."

"Rendben Néni Magyarországon." She said as she looked mentioned to be let down and started to wander around until she saw the Sealand and the few other micro-nations, TRNC, and Latvia. (1)

"Hey! Fern-Lui!" Sealand called out. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, Sealand." She said as she looked at everyone. "Happy Holidays everyone."

"Happy Holidays, Fern-Lui." Everyone said as Sealand announced a game for them to play and rushed off before anyone had a say in it and chased after him to talk to him before he does anything.

0o0o0o0

"Oh, Germany!" Finland called as he and Sweden went up to the German and the Italian.

"Hallo, Finland." He said as Italy cheerfully greeted them.

"Hello Italy, so, is Fern-Lui good to go?"

"It's the only thing she kept asking about since Germany mentioned it." Italy said as he was happy to see pasta at the table. "PASTA~!" He cheered as he went to get a plate.

Germany sighed as he rubbed his head. "He'll end up being in the kitchen before the party's over."

Finland laughed. "Well, he's Italy, it wouldn't be him without his pasta or pizza."

"You have no idea…" He said as he took a sip of punch and saw that Fern-Lui was talking to Sealand along with the rest of the child-like nation group. "Is Sealand going with you?"

"Oh yeah, he is. He hasn't stopped talking about her since the last time she came to the meeting. If you guys hadn't adopted her, he probably would've asked her to be his little sister." He said with a laugh. "I thought it was the cutest thing."

"Sealand! Listen to what me and Latvia are trying to tell you! That's a really bad idea!"

"She kinda sounds like you." He said as he, Germany and Sweden watched the strange chase.

"He's a handful, huh?"

"Greatly." Both Finland and Sweden said in unison. "And Fern-Lui?"

"An angel." He said, feeling a bit sorry for the two nations who adopted the youngest micro-nation.

"Well, maybe he'll learn a thing or two from her the more he gets to know her." He said with a hopeful smile when a crashing sound was heard, followed by an angry American and the boyish shout of "run" was heard.

Germany felt bad for Finland as Sweden tried to comfort the nation.

"He's a g'od boy, but som'tim's…"

"Aaah! Dad! Help!" Sealand called as he ran up to Sweden, which was followed by an angered America.

"I swear! If you can't control that kid to not touch stuff that's clearly labeled as a no touching zone, then this will be the last, I repeat! The. Last. Time. He's invited!"

"Uncle America!" Fern-Lui called out as she ran up to the scene and panted, holding her index finger to indicate a moment to breathe. "You guys are fast…" She said as she caught her breath and looked at the American. "Uncle America, the damage isn't that bad. Honest! Just let Sealand fix it and I'll watch him and it'll be fixed by the time the gift exchange comes up. Please give him a chance, all of us tried to warn him."

America took a deep breath and looked at Sealand and sighed. "Okay… I'll forgive you, Sealand, but only because Fern-Lui has faith in you." He said as he excused himself.

"Thank you Uncle America." She said as she looked at Sealand and looked like Germany when he's commanding troops. "Okay Sealand, you got a vase to fix and we have about an hour to do it. If you want to go back to America's good side, you better not let this chance go. Got it?"

"Y-Yes…" He said guiltily.

"Good, because after you fix the vase, you have better apologize to America like a man along with everyone who tried to keep you from getting into this situation."

"Right…"

She sighed as she held out her hand. "Let's go, we're wasting time."

Sealand nodded as he looked up at his adopted parents. "Sorry that I troubled you… again."

Finland smiled and patted his head. "Just fix what you broke and I'll give you an extra treat."

"Really!" He said excitedly.

He nodded. "But only until you apologized to everyone you've done wrong."

"I will. And sorry Dad."

Sweden smiled and patted the boy's head. "It's all g'od, Sealand…"

With that, he grabbed the girl's hand and they went back into the crowd.

"You may be right about him learning a thing or two from her." Germany said as Italy came up, looking a bit concerned. "Hello Italy, what's wrong?"

"Well, I was going to say hi to America, but he didn't look happy and I was wondering if it was because I ate all the pasta."

Not surprised on the last bit, he explained what happened and Italy was relieved that it wasn't him.

"I see…" He said as he looked around before hiding behind the German.

"Italy?"

"Russia's here…"

Germany looked and to his and many other nations' surprise, there was Russia with Belarus, staying close to the large nation for even the said nation's comfort, and Ukraine. He wasn't sure what the occasion was, but he had a feeling that the only reason why the large nation, who didn't celebrate Christmas until January, was because he wanted to see the girl again.

0o0o0o0

"Дядя России! Тетя Беларуси и Украины тетя!" Fern-Lui called out as she ran up to the tall Russian and the nation picked her up and hugged her. "С Рождеством Христовым!" (2)/(3)

"That's very kind of you, but I don't celebrate Christmas on this day."

"Oh? Oh right! You celebrate it on January seventh."

The Russian nodded as Ukraine wanted to hug the girl as well, which was granted and, for Germany's fear, the girl had more of the nation's breasts and arms than anything else, but she pulled through okay and was able to hug back. Belarus on the other hand, simply patted her on the head, but the girl was not going to have any of that and hugged the woman, surprising her.

"Hug!" She said happily, which, much to everyone's including Russia's amazement, Belarus did attempt to hug back, but she looked like she was in pain doing so. She mentioned to be put down and that was granted as she told Russia in his native language about something, making the nation nod and she ran somewhere back in the crowd.

"Hey Russia! I didn't expect you to come." America called out.

"I was going to decline like I usually do, but I wanted to see the girl again and see what kind of surprise she does. And I'm quite surprised to see Belarus returning a hug." He said as Belarus seemed to blush and looked away. "So, I hope I'm not intruding."

"Nah! It's no problem!" America said as he led the three. "We're just hanging out and waiting for the gift exchange thing."

"Oh, I didn't bring my gift." Ukraine said as she looked like she was about to cry.

"Hey, easy Ukraine, I think Finland may have something for you guys." He said as the girl came up. "Hey there!"

"Hello Uncle America, Sealand's done fixing your vase."

"Oh, did he cause trouble?" Russia asked with an innocent smile.

"Just a vase that was given to me by Teddy when he was in one of his presidential trips."

"Teddy? As in Theodore Roosevelt?" She said, her eyes widening.

"Yeah, but I accidently broke it once, but still if I broke it, that's on me."

"Well, he's waiting for you to give the okay and to apologize in person."

"Okay, thanks for keeping him in line."

"I try, but I wouldn't want to do it every time." She said with her arms crossed and pouted.

America laughed as he headed to where the micro-nation was waiting.

She looked up at the large nation, who picked her up and carried her around.

"You enjoying yourself?" He asked.

She nodded. "I am, except for when Sealand didn't listen to me or Latvia about running around the room, thus lead to the knocking and breaking of the vase. Uncle America got angry, Sealand ran, and I ran after the two and asked America to give Sealand a chance. So now Sealand owes me for him to get invites to future parties."

Russia laughed. "You have Germany's commanding spirit."

"I'm still a bit mad at him because he ran while I saved him. And I'm sure he knows this after all his years of being a nation." She said as she placed one fist on her hip.

"Sealand is actually the youngest out of all of us."

She sighed with a bit of a pout. "Still, I'm eight years old and I have to help him when he should've known better."

Russia chuckled as he patted her head with his free hand. "He will learn one day, малютка, but until then he'll just have to get used to being ordered around you." (4)

She laughed. "I hope not, otherwise it'll seem like I've become his wife or something."

It was Russia's turn to laugh when they reached to where Germany is. "Ah, hello Germany. How are you?"

"I'm well, I didn't expect you here."

"I expected as much, but that is okay. I rather enjoy the surprise looks I'm seeing by my arrival." He said with a little laugh, which Germany grinned uncomfortably while Italy laughed a bit, but also nervously.

"So, are you enjoying yourself then?" Germany asked, figuring that making a conversation would get rid of the awkwardness.

"So far I am." He said as the girl asked to be let down. "Oh, I'm sorry, I bet you're bored with the talk, da?"

She shook her head. "No, but I have to get something from the room right quick."

"Oh? Is it a gift?"

She smiled and nodded. "Да, это." (5)

"Ah! I would love to see what you have brought." He said as he set her down, which she went to Italy and grabbed his hand.

"Come on, Mamma Italia, you have to help me." She said, which Italy followed happily, leaving the German to talk to Russia as Ukraine dragged Belarus to meet up with everyone, which Russia helped by telling them to have a good time and he would like to talk to the other nation for a bit.

"Germany." Russia said, gaining the German's attention. "How is it being a father?"

Germany was a bit shocked to hear that question, but he answered. "Well… to me it's not at all that different when I was trying to train Italy and when I have to keep Bruder out of trouble. But she is what one can call the calm child."

"The exact opposite of what Sweden and Finland have." Russia said, the same innocent smile on his face.

"Ja…" He said. "But Sealand is a micro-nation while Fern-Lui is mortal… their life spans are different…"

Russia's smile lessened to that of a serious consideration. "That is true…" He said as he looked at the other nations. "In a setting such as this when we know that what mortals mistake as one of their own, we know that we are not like them completely. We were once small, barely knowing just who else is like us and how many there are. But now here we are, all of us are known to each other and our people know us by name alone." He looked back to Germany. "But Fern-Lui is the first mortal after so long to know of our existence since those last couple of wars after that one. And she's become yours and Italy's child, if only briefly." He closed his eyes. "I envy you. But at the same time I know that this will last only until her true family comes and takes her back to the world where she truly belongs to." He opened his eyes to see that the German nation was surprised. "I don't think I can handle that kind of pain. I've felt the same pain when I was younger, and it never goes away."

Germany understood what the other was talking about and knew a bit of what Russia's life was like. "You're talking about Anastasia…" He said as he saw the large nation seem to stiffen at the name, but he saw the other nod.

"Yes… out of everyone in the long line of her family, she has and always will be, special to me…"

"I'm sorry for brining her up…"

Russia shook his head. "Don't be. It makes it seem like she's still around if someone mentioned her." He then chuckled. "America even gave me a copy of that movie that isn't historically correct, but it's a good alternative than what she really faced…"

"R-Russia?" He said, seeing that the large nation was thinking back to that time, only for the girl and Italy to come up.

"Hello!" She called out happily, which Russia put on a smile and acted like the talk never happened.

"Привет, did you find what you were looking for?" (6)

"Da." She said, her arms carrying large envelopes, Italy also carrying similar envelopes.

"Ve~ We didn't interrupt anything?" Italy asked.

"Oh no, we were just talking random stuff to kill time." He said.

Germany was a bit unnerved by what just happened a moment ago, but he let it drop as he smiled at the girl, who showed her excitement of handing out her gifts he didn't know she made when America announced the gift exchange.

"Ah, I know I'll get Fern-Lui's gift since no one expected me here at all this evening." Russia said.

"I'm glad you came though." She said as she and the group went up to where the other nations were gathered for the gift exchange.

0o0o0o0

"Well!" America started. "Normally I would draw a name out of a hat and all that, but since Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine unexpectedly joined us here, I think it wouldn't be fair since he didn't bring a gift to exchange with nor did any of us think it was possible. But it seems our angel of the evening has brought something and that's going to be our first gift of the evening! Come up here Fern-Lui!"

The girl went up, envelopes in her arms and each with a name on them. She was blushing, but she picked up the first of the envelopes and handed them out to each of the nations, surprising many that none of them were over looked or forgotten. Even Canada was shocked when he heard his name and handed his envelope.

When each have an envelope in their hands, she announced to everyone that they can open it and hoped they liked their gifts.

Germany and Italy opened theirs and saw pencil sketches of them. Germany's was him standing out in the field, looking proud with one hand on his hip and the other hand holding his army hat.

Italy's was him outside with an easel, paints, and a canvas that seemed to show a faded outline of the landscape that was in the picture.

Each nation had a different picture that seemed to describe them perfectly well."

"This is way beyond awesome." Prussia said when he saw his picture, which was him at the bar, a tall one in hand, his bird fluttering around his head, and looking awesome.

Spain was in his matador outfit in a bull fighter arena.

Romano was in the tomato field, grinning while holding a good looking tomato.

Japan smiled as he saw himself in what looks like he was back in the Edo Period, among the sakura trees.

Greece's was him standing at the buildings before they've become ruins, and the large stature of Athena was behind him as the cats were still on him.

Turkey's was in one of the religious buildings, surrounding by candles on the ground.

France was on the top of the Eiffel Tower, the city at night just below, giving a nice glow as he looked casually relaxed.

Hungary's was at a wide field, camera in hand, and some flowers in her hand, but she also noticed the frying pan hanging off her hip like a sword and couldn't help but giggle.

Austria's was in a music room but he was on the piano, eyes closed and looked as if he was letting the music move him by the position he was in.

England's was happy to see that his showed his pride as nation as well as his loyalty to the Queen with a royal guard's uniform and sword at his side. He looked like he did when he was in power, full of pride and respect.

China's was something calming as his was in the bamboo grove and he was sitting by the stream, a panda bear by his side as he looked like he was enjoying the calmness of the moment.

Canada's was him in a mountain ranger uniform and overlooking from the top of the mountain as the scenery was green and fresh.

Sweden's was him standing guard, but there was a soft smile on the face feature, as if it was a peaceful time as a light snow was present among the flowers that were hardy enough to grow beneath his feet.

Finland's was him on a sleigh, petting a reindeer as he was looking up at a shooting star.

Sealand's was him standing on a rock, surrounded by the raging sea, but he looked determined with his nation's flag in his hand, raised above.

Latvia's was in a field and he had a bird on his finger and he looked so much at peace with a content smile on his face.

Estonia's was in a library, looking up from a book and grinning.

Poland's was him outside with a pony and posed in a way that said 'yeah, I'm here. What are you gonna do about it?' And that just made him smile and laugh.

Lithuania's was him in a park of some kind, reading a book with a pile of books next to him and he seemed to be at ease.

Switzerland's was him out by the lake, face serious, but with a slight grin, with a pistol at his side.

Liechtenstein's was in a quaint village with a bunny at her lap and smiling with joy.

Norway's was in the forest at winter time, and he smiled when he can make out the trolls and other Nordic mythical creatures hiding among the trees.

Denmark's was him holding his flag up while he was poised with his foot on a rock and looking proud and smiling as if he were the king of the world.

Iceland's was him overlooking the ocean with his puffin by his side. He saw that there was a smile on the picture and he looked like he was at peace and couldn't help but smile a little.

Belarus's was her in a snow covered forest and seemed to be catching a glowing snowflake with some wonderment. Normally she wouldn't care about a picture like this, but she did like how this one looked.

Ukraine's was her in a field, smiling as if she had known that she had a great harvest as she was carrying a pitchfork and a pail.

Russia's was him in a field of nothing but sunflowers, and he seemed to be laughing. He was really touched to see a picture like this and knowing that the girl had done this purely on memory alone.

America laughed when he saw his, which was him standing on the flame of Lady Liberty's torch, an American flag in his hand and looking out at the city with jets overhead. "Man! You got an elephants memory! These are great!" He said as everyone else agreed on their pictures as well.

She blushed and smiled. "It's my way of thanking everyone for being so kind to me." She said as a tear came down. She rubbed her eye and giggled. "So, thank you everyone."

Italy went up and hugged the girl and said something in rapid Italian, which the girl understood and laughed.

America rubbed his eyes to stop any tears trying to come out as everyone gathered around the girl and talked to the girl before resuming back to the party before Finland came up and mentioned that he has to start going, which the girl gave her foster parents a hug and joined Sealand on the sleigh, which she was confused, but went along with it.

"Listen to Finland, alright?" Germany said as she nodded.

"I know." She said as Germany rubbed her head.

"I just want to make sure."

"I know, Vati Deutschland." She said with a smile as she gave him a kiss on the cheek before Finland announced that he's ready for takeoff.

"You're going to love this, Fern-Lui." Sealand said.

She smiled. "I'll take your word for it." She said as the reindeer started to move and they were up into the night sky. From there she was surprised at what she saw. "We're flying!" She said as she looked back of the sleigh and saw that America's house is barely a speck out in the distance. She gripped the sleigh as she couldn't help but a feeling of excitement and fear mixed together.

Finland laughed. "Amazing huh?"

"Yeah." She said as she sat back down and looked up at the clear night sky with the full moon. "It's so beautiful."

"I know, I love when nights are like this. You can imagine the few storms I get caught in."

"I wouldn't be surprised, but most of the time your runs are like this."

Finland nodded. "Yes."

0o0o0o0

Back at America's house, everyone turned in for the night, everyone but Germany was asleep. He was reading, yawning a few times, but other than that wasn't tired enough to sleep. He got to the near end of the book when he heard a knock on the door. He got up and opened the door to see Finland carrying the girl in his arms while Sweden was carrying Sealand.

"Sorry if we woke you up." Finland whispered.

Germany shook his head as he took the girl from the nation. "It alright, I wasn't even asleep." He whispered as he told them a Merry Christmas and tucked the girl in bed, which she immediately latched onto Italy, who did the same, making him chuckle. He turned off the light, climbed in bed, and fell asleep as well with his arm over the two.

0o0o0o0

Hours later, the sun was up and Fern-Lui woke up with a pitched groan. She remember being in the sleigh going over Italy and saw that the lit mountain was pretty and then she must've fallen asleep when they were heading back to America's house. She saw Italy, a bit of a drool was present on the corner of the man's mouth. She smiled as she wiped the drool off before looking to the other man and knew that he must've stayed up, otherwise he would've been up by now. But then it was Christmas Day, so the German had the right to sleep in.

Normally children would run to get their presents while they wake their parents with cries of presents. But she liked the peacefulness of being between the two people she holds dear to her. But then she felt a sadness and a clinging shadow called guilt for being here.

She sighed. 'This is what they wanted me to do. To live and be safe…' She thought. 'I'm suppose to stay until they come and find me.' But the feeling of never seeing her real family started to cling to her heart as much as she wants to deny it. But there was nothing she can do but stay with the nations that she had come to feel as family. She loved them the same as her real family, and that's what's important to her.

_"Have you forgotten?"_

She hitched her breath as she looked at the German's face, sighed lightly in relief, and ran her hand through the blond hair and smiled as she could see her real vati clearly now. She turned to look at Italy and did the same, seeing her mamma's face. 'I'm not replacing them with my real parents, but it's hard not to when they look the same.'

Soon she heard the door being knocked rapidly, followed by the voice of her Onkel asking if anyone was up, which caused Germany to groan and held her and Italy tighter. She lightly giggled, which seems to be the thing to wake up the German as he opened one lazy eye as the knocking continued.

"Oi! West! You alive in there? Do I have to go in and give you another rude awakening!" Prussia called out from outside the door.

"I'm up!" Germany called out, waking up the Italian.

"Ve~?" He sighed out before the day registered in his mind. "Ve! It's Christmas morning!"

Germany got up and nodded. "Ja, Italien." He said as the girl got up, followed by the Italian.

She stretched and yawned when Prussia let himself in. "Guten Morgen, Onkel Preußen." She said as she rubbed her eyes.

"Good morning to you too!" He said as he looked at the three. "And why are you still in bed? Everyone else is waiting for you guys."

Germany sighed. "Give us a minute." He said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Okay. But be quick about it! Ja?"

"Ja, ja… Now go!" He said as his brother left and he got up from the bed to grab his, Italy's, and the girl's clothes and threw the articles to them.

Fern-Lui dressed quickly as did the German, the Italian however wasn't as fast and needed help with the snagged button to be loose in order to get his head through, which amused the girl a bit as the German sighed and fixed the problem, which made the other very grateful, making the other blush a bit and mentioned to head out.

0o0o0o0

They headed to where everyone was talking amongst themselves before they walked in.

"Alright! Time to open gifts!" Prussia announced, making his brother face-palm.

"Kids first!" America called out, which Sealand, dragging Latvia, the Cyprus brothers, other young micro-nations, and Fern-Lui went up to the large pile of gifts and it became a search for theirs.

"Hey! Fern-Lui!" Sealand called. "Found one with your name on it!"

"Thank you Sealand." She said as she received the found gift and looked to see who it was from. "From your awesome Onkel."

"Yes!" The mentioned ex-nation said as she carefully opened the wrapped gift.

She looked into the box and saw a necklace with a beautifully craved circular locket. The locket had a bird that resembled a goldfinch, an eagle, flowers that looked like birds of paradise, and a heart. She blinked and looked at the Prussian. "Danke Onkel…"

"You know what those pictures mean?" He asked, sounding a bit serious but his grin was still present.

"The goldfinch means good luck and happiness, the eagle is strength and courage, the flowers mean friendship, and the heart means love."

This caused a few to look at the Prussian, some a bit shocked to know that the crazy ex-nation could give such a meaningful gift as he chuckled, but he was surprised that the girl knew what they mean.

"You do know your stuff, kiddo." He said. "But you summed up what those symbols represent."

She opened the locket and found that it was still empty inside, which she knew it was going to be occupied sometime today.

The next gift was from Hungary, which was another dress with her own frying pan, which got Prussia to complain and couldn't help but giggle at the two arguing like brother and sister.

Next was from Austria, which was a music box with a very pretty song by Mozart, followed by another of Prussia's, which was a gold bracelet with etched in flowers.

Japan's gift was a beautifully decorated fan, Greece's was a necklace with the glass charm he found in one of the ruins he was in, Turkey was a small Turkish rug that was in a beautiful earthly colors, Cyprus and TRNC gave her a metal flower that she can open up and close, Sealand's was a picture of him, which she had to be kind and thanked him, but not knowing what to do with the picture. Latvia got her a scarf, Estonia and Lithuania got her some books, Poland got her a toy pink pony, Romano got her a soccer ball that was painted to look like a tomato, which she questioned on what to do with it.

"You've heard of futbol, haven't you?" Romano asked and was surprised when she shook her head that she didn't. "It's only the best international game in the world!"

"I… didn't know that." She said, surprised as she looked at the ball like she has found the Holy Grail.

"When you come around my house, I'll teach you the basics of it." He said as she continued to open her other gifts.

Spain got her a rose flower clip, France got her the fanciest child's dress she'd ever seen, making Germany wonder what on earth was she going to wear it for. Italy got her an artist's case, which she was excited about, England, much to everyone's relief, got her a decent winter coat that was in a light tan color, China got her a panda toy, Egypt made her a pot that was beautifully crafted as if it was from the ancient times, and America got her a laptop with the lid cover to have a Picasso painting on it.

After getting the other gifts from the other nations, except Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, she thanked all of them with a hug and a kiss on each cheek, which made a few nations, notably Japan, Cyprus, TRNC, Latvia, England, Austria, Switzerland, and Sealand, blush deeply of the affectionate gesture.

Even Russia blushed lightly from the gesture while Belarus was painfully red from embarrassment and slightly angered of the fact that she didn't do that to her brother, which many know that Russia avoids those kinds of things of her like the Plague.

0o0o0o0

Soon the party was coming to an end and everyone turned in for the night before they head back to their respectful homes. The girl was out as well as the other young child-like nations as they were all found asleep in front of the grand fireplace that America has. Germany picked her up and he and Italy headed to their assigned room, changed her and tucked her in.

She held onto the cream with dark grey spot cat plush that Germany got her and the two nations couldn't help but look over their adoptive child.

"Ve~ She looks like an angel." Italy said as he leaned against the taller nation.

"Ja…" He said as he unconsciously wrapped an arm around the Italian's waist, and for that moment it all seemed perfect. He suddenly realized this and cleared his throat. "Do you wish to return to everyone or are you tired?"

"Not much left to do." Italy said, a bit confused that the other suddenly brought that up before smiling. "Come on Germany, let's say good night to whoever's up and join our daughter." He said, not noticing how the blush on Germany's face seemed to intensify, but nodded as they headed out, said their good night to America, who was going to stay up to clean the place.

Germany was going to help when America, with the rare force of authority, told him to not lift a single crumb and march back to the room and rest up, which he did with Italy dragging him there.

When both did settle to bed, she groaned and was slightly awake, but said her good night to both of her foster parents with a kiss and fell back to sleep with a happy smile, making the two nations smile and fell to a fitful sleep.

Once they were fully asleep, Hungary came out from under the bed and aimed her camera just right and was about to take a shot when Italy wrapped his arm around the girl, followed by Germany wrapping his arm over the two and bringing them together. She bit her lip to keep herself from fangirling and took the shot. 'Thank you God for sending her here, otherwise I wouldn't be doing this right now!' She thought as she snuck out of the room.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Okay Auntie Hungary - Hungarian

(2) Uncle Russia! Auntie Ukraine and Auntie Belarus! - Russian

(3) Merry Christmas! - Russian

(4) little one - Russian

(5) Yes, it is - Russian

(6) Hello - Russian

* * *

Okay then! I still got to review and all that for chapters 11 - 16, and, if all goes well, continue the fic with a few chapters after. How are you liking this so far? The same as the first time around? New theories? Random?

Anyway, I hope you all have a great day and see ya!


	11. Chapter 11

Hey everyone! I got the next five chapters up and ready for you guys, so I hope you enjoy them. Again, there's hardly any change. Some chapters that were in two parts were put together and I made my OC sound a bit more like her age, but still have her keep her maturity trait that pops out now and then.

Speaking of maturity at a young age, I was watching Ponyo the other day, and I got a better insight by studying Sasuke's and Ponyo's characters. I love 'em!

Anyway, enjoy!

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* * *

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_Chapter 11: An Outing with America_

The next morning, America asked, though it looked more like begging, Germany to borrow Fern-Lui for a few hours to give her a tour around Washington, and it was granted and the American and the girl were out of the house, leaving it to the remaining guests there.

"Where are we going, Uncle?" She asked, holding onto the plush cat, that she dubbed Gi-Lu, as she was lead to the subway system.

"I wanna show you some of the tourist sights of this capital before you go."

She smiled as she held onto his hand tightly. "Okay! Just promise we stop for some hot chocolate somewhere along the way."

"You bet!" He said as they made it into the subway.

0o0o0o0

Sometime later they made it to the Mall and went to every Smithsonian museums there before seeing the Washington Monument, and then they stopped by some of the memorials, which became a quiet, respectful trek. When they came across the World War II Memorial, they stopped.

"What's this place, Uncle?" She asked.

"The World War II Memorial…" America said as he looked at the fifty-six pillars in an oval arrangement with a fountain that wasn't turned on due to the cold weather.

"Oh…" She said, knowing about the war as well. "What was it like? For a nation at that time?"

America had a feeling that question was going to come up. "With every death that our people suffered… with every raid, air born or land based, we feel it. For me… it was my people dying…"

"Pearl Harbor…" She said as she felt her hand being squeezed tighter.

"Yeah… But everyone suffered losses as well. But at that time… I was also confused as to why he would do that… we were friends at that point, or I thought… Then my people's hysteria kicked in and soon I could feel the hatred of everyone towards Japan's people in my house. But I also felt their hurt as well, especially for those Japanese people that were born here." He sighed. "I was getting out of the Depression at that time, and people were starting to get their act together… slowly… But then that day happened and… If I didn't go to war, we wouldn't be where we are today… We became organized, figured out ways to make industry go faster to get things to the Allies… Women learned their hidden strength…" He chuckled hollowly. "In a way… it was like a double edged sword… It was a tragedy, but it's the kick we need to get back on our feet."

She looked to see that the American looked at the sky. "Do you blame yourself?"

He looked down at the girl, and smiled a bit guiltily. "I blame myself for thinking that Germany is a bad guy back then. Italy is an okay guy. And I guess I felt betrayed by Japan that I just got a bit overboard…" He sighed. "War is hell for both our people and nations, but we nations can't forget it easily… Most of our veterans can still hear the gun fire, the smell of smoke, the sight of ally, enemy, or an innocent person die."

She gave the nation a hug, which he bent down and he hugged back.

"But it's all good now…" He added. "We're in the twenty-first century, and so far most of us have gotten along. There's still some nations that don't like one another, but most of us are doing okay. We paid our debts to each other for the pain we caused one another and moved on."

She didn't look convinced and she was going to say something when she felt tired and fell asleep on his shoulder.

"Fern?" He asked when he saw that the girl was asleep. He checked his watch and saw that it was three in the afternoon. "Siesta." He smiled as he carried the girl all the way back to his house.

0o0o0o0

"America! About time you returned!" Germany said after he headed out to meet with the other nation before entering the house. A moment ago, he was sitting on one of the armchairs, holding a book and was attempting to read as he waited for the American and his adoptive daughter to return.

"We just went to look at the Smithsonian!" America said as he laughed and patted the German on the shoulder. "I swear you're acting like an overprotective dad!"

The German sighed as America handed the girl to him.

"She's a great kid."

"So I keep hearing." He said as he rubbed the girl's back, making her hum and nuzzled a bit, making the American awe.

"I swear you lucked out on getting custody of her."

Germany blushed a bit as both nations headed back to the American's home.

"So who's left?" America asked.

"Well… China and the rest of the Asian nations left, only Japan stayed. We were cleaning your place while you were out."

"What the hell! I told you guys not to! You're my guests damn it!" America said poking the German on the shoulder. "And I cleaned last night! So there shouldn't be any reason for anyone with some OCD for cleanliness to go about and cleaning someone else's house when they're guests!"

There was a momentary pause as Germany sighed. "Italy let himself in the kitchen to make pasta… and left a bit of a mess…" He said as he adverted his eyes as he remembered the flour on the floor and the broken egg shells because he couldn't find the trashcan.

America sighed. "And you can't help yourself…" He said as he scratched his head. "What the hell. What's done is done…" They entered his home and he saw that his place was practically sparkling. He looked at the floor and he could see himself. "Couldn't you do something mentally productive, like Sudoku or crosswords?"

"A thank you would be in order." Germany said dully as Japan came around the corner, mop and pail in hand.

"Oh, hello Amerika-san, did you just get back?"

"Yeah…" He said as he couldn't help but grin. "So you and Germany cleaned my place when I told you to relax."

"Well, I was going to respect your wishes, America-san, but then I accidentry went into the room that France-san was using, and… well…"

America raised his hand up. "I get the picture." He said with a sigh. "Well… Is there anything else here that needs attention?"

"I just finished the bathroom." Japan said when a knock was heard.

"Who could that be?" America said as he opened the door and he saw an oddly looking human-like creature with a big head, large black eyes, grey skin, and only wearing a scarf. "Mr. Tony! Where you been man!" He said as he let the creature in. "How were your folks?" He asked which was responded with a few pitched sounds for the creature. "That's good!" He looked up at the two nations. "You guys remember Mr. Tony, right?" Both nations responded that they did. "Hey Tony! Guess what? You remember Germany, right?"

The creature pointed at the German.

"Right! And do you see the little girl he's holding?"

The creature looked and nodded.

"That's his and Italy's kiddo!"

"Kiddo?"

"Another way of saying kid." He explained when the girl was starting to wake up.

She looked around the area and saw Germany, said her hello and kissed his cheek before looking to see America and the creature next to him and her eyes went wide. "Is that an alien?"

"This is one of my friends, Mr. Tony. Tony, this is Fern-Lui."

She mentioned to be placed down, took a few steps towards the alien, smiled and bowed. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Tony." She said as she straightened.

Tony seemed to blush as he went behind America, making the nation confused for a moment and laughed.

"Aw! Mr. Tony, don't tell me you're shy?"

"No!" It said as the girl tilted her head and giggled.

"I've never met an alien before, but you're really cute."

Tony seemed to go red and fidgeted as he came out from behind the nation and went up to the girl and held out his hand.

She took the hand and giggled as the alien seemed to giggle along with her. "Oh! Mr. Tony…" She said as released each other's hands and she lightly poked his shoulder. "You're it!" She giggled as she started to run.

The alien seemed to get it as he chased after her.

"Now that's so cute!" America said with a smile, though Germany was a bit unsure while Japan was indifferent.

"Ve~ What's going on?" Italy said as he came out, rubbing his eye, the sign that he just woke up.

"Rui-chan made a new friend." Japan said simply as the said duo ran pass Italy.

"Oh…" He said with a smile. "Looks like they're having fun, ve~"

0o0o0o0

Later that evening, Germany, Italy and Fern-Lui were getting ready to leave for the airport, which made the little alien seem sad.

"Don't worry Mr. Tony, we'll play together again. I'm going to be around for a while." She said as she gave the alien a hug, making the alien blush before waving to America and Mr. Tony and joining her parents in the taxi, because Canada was nowhere to be found, and Prussia was also missing, which Germany wasn't too worried, thinking he went with France.

Once they reached the airport, they got their tickets, went through security, and headed to their gate, which the girl noticed was heading to Italy. "Are we going to Italy?" She asked.

"Ja." Germany said.

"Papa and I talked about it, and it's agreed that we're gonna stay at my house for New Years."

"Really!"

"Sì! And I bet you're sick and tired of all the snow and cold weather!"

She blinked as she smiled and giggled.

"Ve~ At my house it's nothing but warm weather, friendly people, beautiful sights to see, and lots of great pasta~!"

She seemed surprised but then looked really excited. "I can't wait to see your house!"

"It's going to be another long flight…" Germany said with a sigh, not looking forward to that.

"Ve~ I know…" Italy said with a sigh.

She knew how they felt when she heard an announcement for those going to Japan to come aboard. "Isn't Nihon-ojisan going home too?"

"He's going to stay with America for a few extra days." Germany said as he scratched the back of his head. "Something about a game or something like that…" He said as he heard Italy's stomach growl. "Hungry?"

"Sì…" He said with a down casted look. "And I couldn't bring my pasta with me anymore for the past ten years now…" Then the girl's stomach growled.

"I'm getting a bit hungry too…" She said with a blush.

Germany nodded and got up. "I'll find something for us to eat then. We still got a while before our flight. So you two stay put here, understood?"

"Yes sir!" Both said with a salute, making the German shake his head and left to find something that the picky Italian can eat.

"Ve~ I hope he brings back something good… Airport food isn't that great, but it's better than England's food."

She giggled as a couple young women sat down in the seats behind them.

"Did you see that hunk?" Said one woman.

"I did! He's so hot! In a tough military look."

"He looks foreign too… German?"

"Oh now you're being stereotypical!"

"Anyway, did you see his ass? I bet it's firm like a tank by how buff he looks."

"No kidding! I'd tap that for sure."

Italy was about to talk to the women until he heard what they had to say about Germany and figured the women were after stronger men, which he didn't fit the bill. And somehow it bugged him that they would just immediately assumed his best friend like that. But what can he say? It's not like they're going after the German, they're simply commenting him. He'd done it loads of times, and all those times he told them to Germany himself. In a way it was good that the German was complemented as such, he didn't think the other gets those kinds of complements often.

"Willkommen zurück!" Fern-Lui said as Germany came up with a bag in his hand. (1)

"Sorry it took me a while." Germany said as he sat back down and handed them the pizza boxes. "They're not Italian made, but it should suffice until we get to Italy." He said as he saw the look on the Italian's face. "Don't give me that look. It could've been a lot worse you know, and I do believe you know what I mean."

"Sì…" Italy said as he took a bite of his pizza.

"Fern-Lui, how about you?"

"It's not bad, but Mamma can make a better one." She said, which earned the two nations a smile.

"Um… Excuse me…"

The three looked up to see one of the two women looking at them from the seat behind the girl.

"Are you guys heading to Italy?"

"Ja." Germany answered.

"Whereabouts?"

"Rome."

"So… are you gonna stick around for the New Years?"

"Ja…" He said, not liking where this is going.

"That's great! We should meet up for a coffee or something." She said with a hopeful smile.

Germany didn't know what to do as he stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. "I'm afraid that's going to be difficult." He said.

"Oh? How come?"

"Because he's my daddy." Fern-Lui piped as she looked up at the woman. "And we're going to Mamma's house there. She lives in Rome with a bit of the flu at the moment, so she couldn't travel away from home, even for my Uncle's Christmas party."

"Oh…" The woman said, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I thought you're his little sister."

"You didn't even notice me until I spoke." She said. "And I didn't like what you or your friend said about my daddy earlier."

The woman's face was really red at this point. "I'm so sorry, if I'd known…"

"That's why I forgive you, because you didn't think that my daddy, as good looking as he is, would have a kid like me."

"Most of the good men have that quality…" The woman said as she looked at the German. "I'm sorry about that, I didn't know you were married."

"I… uh…"

The woman waved it off. "Don't mention it. I'm too forward most of the time. It's a rotten habit of mine." She said, maturely handling the situation as the boarding announcement came on and that was the end of the awkward conversation.

0o0o0o0

Once they were seated, Germany looked around to make sure the women weren't anywhere near them or could hear them before he could relax. "Mein Gott that was close…" He said with a sigh.

"Ve~ I guess they were looking to date you…" Italy said, feeling a bit guilty for not helping out his friend.

Germany sighed. "There was nothing either of us could've done. I'm glad Fern-Lui thought of something."

"I knew you would be in a bad position if nothing happened. And I really didn't lie to her, so it worked out really well."

"Ve~ You're really smart."

"Nein, I'm just a bit creative like that. It must be hard to have t lie to your own people when that comes up, huh?"

"Well… that was actually a first for me…" Germany admitted. "I have to admit, it was rather uncomfortable. I'm sure she's a nice and intelligible woman, but I don't see anything outside of just a friendly stranger."

"Ve~ It's only coffee though."

"In America, a coffee is a date." Germany informed.

"Oh… You don't like dating?"

"It's not like how you do in your house…" He said with a sigh. "Let's talk about his later… Okay?" He looked at Italy, who nodded and they fell into silence.

Fern-Lui didn't like how that went and wondered what to do to at least ease the sudden atmosphere that settled over them.

"Will we be able to see Uncle Romano when we go there?"

"I think we will, but sometimes he's not home, which means he's visiting his best friend."

"Oh, okay." She then looked at Germany. "You think Onkel will be okay?"

Germany grinned a bit. "Believe me, if I know anything about your Onkel, is that he's causing trouble somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised to get a call from him by the time we land."

She giggled as she sensed the atmosphere getting lighter. 'That's a relief.' She thought as she yawned.

"You better get some sleep, it's still a long way there." Germany informed as he caught an attendant and asked for a blanket for the girl.

"Didn't you say something similar when we were going to your house?"

Germany thought back on it and nodded. "I did in fact." He said with a smile. "Though I think we'll be there by the time you wake up." The attended came back and handed him the blanket and placed it over the girl.

"See you in the morning then…" She said as she found a comfortable spot and closed her eyes.

"Sweet dreams, Fern-Lui." Italy said as he kissed her on top of her head, while Germany petted her head.

"Sleep well."

She hummed before she fell asleep.

Italy yawned, making Germany asked the attended to grab another blanket and placed it over the Italian.

"You didn't have to do that, Germany." He said.

Germany smiled softly as he petted the auburn hair. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable, my friend." He said as his hand cupped the Italian's cheek. "Get some sleep, it'll be early morning by the time we get there."

Italy nodded as he started to settle in the uncomfortable seats. "You too… You're ten times as scary when you're tired then when you're rested."

Germany couldn't help but chuckle. "Right, right…" He said as he saw that the two were out and closed his eyes as well as he was close to falling asleep when he felt a small and on his lap, looked down and saw that it was the girl's hand, and held the hand lightly in his before falling asleep as well.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Welcome back - German


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter 12: An Italian New Year_

Once they arrived in Italy, Germany stretched out his sore muscles that had to deal with the long flight as Italy and Fern-Lui were waiting for their bags.

"You're gonna love it here! There are museums, theatres, wonderful restaurants, and so much historical sites!"

"Mamma raved about it all the time, and Vati talks highly about it as well. So I'm really excited to see Italy!"

Germany sighed, knowing that he now has two hyper fueled persons to catch up and look after. He didn't even want to think about the driving, which he knew that, if he wanted to survive the driving craze, he would have to trust the Italian with driving them from the airport to his house.

0o0o0o0

But then it turns out that Romano was in the area, much to the dismay of the German, and the older Italian would've given the German nation a scare of his life, but since he liked the girl he only drove at his normal speed, which the girl was trying to ease her father's tense form, so he was satisfied with that until they reached to Italy's house. He would've stayed, but he had to get to Spain's place to help prepare for the tomato harvest later on, with a parting of 'get back to work, lazy bastard of a brother!' and left leaving behind tire tracks at the drive way, much to the annoyance of the German.

"Alright then!" Italy said. "Let's see what we get to do first!" He unlocked the door and both the German and the girl met with the interior that's obvious that it hasn't been used in a long while.

"Clean." Both said, slightly taken aback of the lack of care in the house.

"Ve?" Italy ticked, confused.

"I don't wanna die from breathing in all that dust…" She whined as Germany took his jacket off and entered the house and headed straight to the kitchen to grab the two brooms and handed the second one to Italy.

"Fern-Lui, you can just play for a while. Let Italy and I handle this…"

"Okay…" She said as she found a yard, took out the ball that Romano got her on Christmas, and created a game for herself as she heard the German lecture the Italian, which resulted in the said nation to start crying and spout apologies, before being still once more. She hummed a random tune before spotting a familiar cat and smiled. "Gino!" She called out, which the cat happily came up to her. "How did you get here?" She giggled as she petted the very happily Italian cat.

She enjoyed the happy cat's company when she heard another mewl and looked up to see Lutz and mentioned him over. "Come join us Lutz! It's more fun when you join!" She said happily as the dark grey, almost black cat with startling blue eyes seemed hesitant of that offer. She realized this and gently set Gino to the side, got up and went up to the dark colored cat with the nicely adorned ribbon that had the colors of the German flag, and normally wouldn't be on a male cat. She picked the cat up and just held the solid color cat, which the cat seemed confused with the gentle and simple gesture of being held so dearly as the girl started to pet his back, which he couldn't help but purr.

Gino wanting some attention too, jumped up to her shoulder, making her giggle, and nuzzled her cheek.

"I don't know how you two got here from Vati Deutschland's place, but I'm happy to see you two." She said as a crash was heard from inside the house, followed by the loud concerned voice of the German and the crying tone of the Italian. "Sounds like it's gonna be awhile before I can walk in." She said as she looked around. "What to do to pass the time?" She said when she started to feel tired. "Oh… siesta is coming up." She said as she found a tree to rest up against and closed her eyes. Gino curled up on her lap and was immediately asleep.

The dark cat sighed and shook his head before looking around, keeping a look out.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Germany and Italy got the second floor done and Germany opted to do the laundry as he more or less ordered Italy to clean the kitchen and, once it passed his inspection, can cook dinner. And, after an hour delay due to Italy's siesta and finding out that the said nation did not own a dryer, the German headed out with a basket of wet clothes, clothing line, and wooden clips used to keep the clothes on the line.

It was there that he saw that the girl and two cats were asleep as he put the line up and started to put the clothes onto the line. That's where he figured why Italy doesn't own a dryer as the clothes were drying and straightening themselves nicely and decided not to lecture the other about it. He headed back inside to see how the Italian was doing, and gave the other permission to start cooking as he continued to clean the other parts of the house.

When dinner was ready, the house was finally clean and Fern-Lui and the cats entered the house while Germany brought in the bags to their rooms.

"Here you go." Italy said as he gave the two cat's their share of the meal, which was spaghetti, and they enjoyed it together.

"Ve~ It's good to eat together…" Italy sighed as he smiled at the two, making the German blush and the girl giggled.

"Well… I wasn't really that happy to find out that you haven't cleaned your house, again…" Germany pointed out. "But at least it wasn't piled in trash…"

"Huh?" The girl said as she looked at Italy. "What does Vati Ducthland mean?"

"Oh, well… I have a trash situation in my home…"

"Oh…"

"And while I was cleaning I found some paperwork you were supposed to do…" Germany pointedly said as he eyed the Italian. "I keep telling you to come back to your house to look over your share of the work or I'm going to have to ban you from coming to my house."

"Nooo~" Italy whined as he jumped from his seat and latched himself to the German. "I'll do my work! I will! Don't leave me all alone!"

"I didn't say I would leave you alone! I said that you would no longer come freely to my house if you continue to let Romano do your work! And he has enough to attitude towards me as it is…"

"So Germany won't leave me?"

He sighed. "I won't leave you…"

"Yay!" He cheered as he nuzzled against the other, making the other blush so that it was the same color as a ripe tomato.

Seeing this made the girl giggle as she finished her dinner and excused herself to take a bath.

0o0o0o0

While she was in the tub, Gino managed to get himself in, despite the door being closed for privacy, got on top of the edge of the tub, which he slipped and fell into the water. "Oh!" She said as she picked up the soaked cat and got out of the tub. "Well, I had to get out anyway." She said as she got a towel to wrap around herself and a small hand towel to dry off the cat. "How did you even get in here, Gino? You a ninja kitty or something?" She giggled as the cat seemed to be back to his cheerful self.

"Fern-Lui? Is everything okay?" Germany asked from behind the door.

"Ja! Just Gino taking a fall into the tub!"

"Gino? How did he get in?"

"No idea…"

"Well, that explains why Lutz was looking around the house. You two okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine!" She said as she put on her pajamas and opened the door. "Okay Gino, you heard Vati Deutschland, Lutz is worried about you so you better find him."

Gino mewled and went to look for the other cat.

Germany shook his head. "Italy and his cat have a way of entering even when every entry is closed and locked…" He said as the girl giggled. "Either way, it's time for bed for you."

"Okay." She said as she followed the man to her room, where she was tucked in and she asked for a story.

"What would you like to hear?" He asked as the girl shrugged.

"I don't know."

Germany sat at the edge of the bed and thought of a bedtime story that he liked. "Well… I know the Kuchen Fairy."

"Kuchen Fairy?" She asked as the man blushed lightly.

"Ja…" He said as he breathed deeply to keep the blush down as Gino and Lutz appeared and Gino got onto the bed.

"Come on up, Lutz!" She said as she patted a spot.

Lutz looked up at his owner, who nodded, and jumped onto the bed but he felt a bit out of place until Gino jumped on top of him.

This made the girl giggle as she looked at Germany and smiled, waiting patiently for the story.

Germany cleared his throat, causing the two cats to settle, and started to tell his story.

"Well… Long ago there was a fairy who likes to make cakes, so he was often called a Kuchen Fairy due to that. One day, when his brother was being a huge annoyance to him, he went out to find something to create a new recipe he's been working on, only to run into a human.

Normally he knew what to do when he encounters a human, but what he found was a whimpering, crying mess of a human who pleaded for him not to hurt the human, thinking he was a spirit of the forest, which he was, technically…" He looked to see that the girl was interested and continued.

"He told the whimpering human that he wasn't going to hurt or eat him, which the human immediately cheered up and started talking rapidly about different things that the fairy wasn't familiar with. So after a long time of listening to nothing but ramble, he told the other to be quiet and offered to help the human out of the forest, seeing that he was lost to begin with, and the other cheered happily of the thought of getting out of the forest.

When he did, the human thanked him and promised to return and went his way. At first the fairy thought nothing about it and hoped the human wouldn't spout about meeting a fairy in the forest. Time went by and he went looking out for something to use as a recipe once again, and he met the human once again as well, but this time he wasn't lost, but he was actually looking for him and invited him to a picnic of all things…

He would've refused if it wasn't for a fact that he saw a large picnic basket that looked heavy for the wimpy human and knew that the human expected a positive response when they meet up again. He reluctantly agreed, which the human became ecstatic, and ended up enjoying the picnic.

Time passed and the fairy started to like the human every time he came around, but he wouldn't let it show and expected something out of the ordinary from the human, so that he wouldn't be caught off guard, which happens anyway.

But one day the human didn't come back to the forest and the Kuchen Fairy figured that, for once the human was busy with something and went about his day. A month went by and he started to worry, so he ventured out of the forest, knowing full well of the risks involved, and looked for his only human friend.

When he did find him, he was surrounded by other humans, demanding and threatening him to tell them about his whereabouts. The human's brother was among them, telling him to just tell them about the Kuchen Fairy so they can go back home in peace. The human tried to convince the brother that the fairy should be left alone, but the brothers were loud and the other humans heard all that they needed to know and one of the humans ordered a house arrest for the two.

He went back to the forest to warn everyone, but the leader decided it was time to go to war with the humans and left the fairy at a loss of what to do. He had to lead an army to attack the humans, but he knew that if he gone through with it, he may end up meeting and no doubt hurt his friend."

He took a breather and continued.

"He went through with it and made it his goal that he will meet his friend, and deal with him himself. Once he was face to face with his human friend… he made sure that he would be mistaken for someone dead…"

A memory flashed as he saw Italy, bloodied and bruised. "I'm sorry… I'm not great with stories."

"Keep going, that can't be the end." She said, making the other look up to see her smile a little. "You said that the fairy made it look like he was dead, so there's a possibility of his friend being alive after the fight, right?"

He was taken aback of how the girl took to his failed story so far, but he complied with the girl's wishes and continued with his story.

"The fight went for a long time, but eventually it stopped entirely and both sides declared a cease fire. The Kuchen Fairy was glad that the fighting was over, but on the other hand hoped he didn't have to live to see it, because he felt so guilty for what he had to do to his friend. He didn't even know if the human was still alive after he left him.

For what seemed like an eternity, they had bumped into each other in the forest. He had thought about what he would say if this were to happen, but at that moment everything flew out of his mind, leaving him stunned, guilty, and wanting to just disappear. But he knew he had to face him sooner or later and started to tell him everything that he had felt since that day. After he let everything out, he felt that the weight was getting heavier and not lighter when the other didn't say anything. He was going to leave when the human stopped him and he saw that the other didn't look like he blamed him or seemed angry with him. This only made him feel guilty as the other smiled a small, honest smile before hugging the other.

The Kuchen Fairy didn't believe he should be forgiven so easily like that, but in another perspective, he hasn't lost his friend and continued to look at it that way for as long as it goes."

"That's a bit of a sad story…"

"I'm sorry…"

"I like it though, it seems real…" She said as she yawned. "But I wished the fairy would forgive himself though."

Germany smiled as he tucked her in. "Me too." He said as he kissed her on the forehead. "But I guess as long as he has his friend, he'll learn to overcome that."

She nodded. "I know he will." She said as Gino curled up next to her. "Gute Nacht Vati Deutschland."

"Gute Nacht Fern-Lui." He said as he shut the light off and headed to the shared room with Italy, because he knew the other would sneak into the guest room if he used that.

0o0o0o0

"Where were you?" Italy asked sleepily.

"I was telling her a bedtime story."

"Oh, that's so nice of you."

He nodded as he went to his side of the bed and turned off the light, but he didn't sleep right away. "Hey… Italy…"

"Hm? Something wrong Germany?"

"I was… thinking about that time… when you left for the Allies…" He said as he stared at the ceiling. "I… remember that time when I came to your house…" He took a deep breath as he remembered seeing blood. Italy's blood. "I… I did apologize, but I know that that alone isn't enough and yet you…" He was cut off with the Italian's hand lightly pressed his lips to stop talking.

"I know you didn't mean to do that, Germany. You couldn't go against your boss. None of us could with our own bosses." He said as he moved his hand from the German's lips to petting his hair. "I forgave you on that day after you left me like that. I didn't tell anyone, because I know they wouldn't listen or believe me, even Romano…" He said as he kissed the other's cheek. "I know you feel awful about that. And we made a promise, remember?" He held out his pinky. "Even though it was official broken because of my boss and Romano and I had to join the Allies, the friendship between you and me hasn't. Otherwise we wouldn't be here at this moment."

Germany was shocked to hear all this, but he felt the guilt lifted a little as he wrapped his pinky with the others and smiled a bit of this small simple gesture.

"Let's make another promise." Italy said happily.

"Another promise?"

"Yeah, but not as nations, but as ourselves."

Germany blinked as Italy smiled.

"I promise to continue to be there for you and let you know just how important you are if you start doubting yourself, just like a few seconds ago. And you will do the same when I get that way, which you do all the time anyway."

Germany managed a smile and nodded. "Promise." He said as Italy hummed in content and curled up on his chest.

"See you and Fern-Lui in the morning." Italy said as he snuggled up to the other.

"Ja… Sweet dreams." He said as he closed his eyes and easily fell asleep.

0o0o0o0

The next morning, they found themselves in a busy square as the Italian seemed energized as the German seemed calm and collected while the girl was experiencing a form of culture shock.

"Fern-Lui! Welcome to Rome!" Italy announced as they stood at the center of the Piazza Navona, a circular square surrounded by pillars, and statues of Ancient Romans above them. "There's a lot you can do in Rome, so we can't get through everything today." He said as the girl was gapping at the sight of it all.

Germany knew how she felt, and he had been here more than enough times, but it never got old to him. Italy was just too amazing of a place to get bored of, much like its personification.

"Okay! Let me tell you about this place!" Italy started, looking focused and excited about telling the girl about the area.

Fern-Lui knows about it already, but she loved to hear it from her adoptive mother all the same. It's not every day that you are being taught a history lesson by a person who is the living representation of the country.

"Here there are three famous fountains. The fountain we're coming up now is called the Fountain of the Four Rivers!"

The trio made it up to the grand fountain and saw the four grand nude statues and animals surrounding the obelisk.

"Do you know what the four men represent?"

"The Nile, the Ganges, Danube, and the Rio de la Plata. The four rivers known at that time."

"Sì, sì!" Italy said as he pointed to the top of the obelisk. "And what animal is at the top?"

"The Dove, which symbolizes peace and the Holy Spirit, which honors the one who asked Bernini to construct it."

"Ve~ You really do know your history."

"Mi mamma is not only a cook and artist, she's also an art historian. So I learned all about the art history from the dawn of man to modernism."

"Ve~! She sounds like an impressive woman!"

She laughed. "You would love her. You could be siblings for all I know for how much you're alike."

Italy laughed along with her as they headed to the next fountain. "And this is the Neptune Fountain!"

The fountain consisted of eight different sea related statues and Neptune in the center.

And they headed to the final fountain, the Moor Fountain, where they saw the four titan statues and Italy mentioned that the statues there are actually substitutes and the real copies are moved to another area.

"Now! We get something to eat!" Italy said happily, and Germany agreed. And of course Italy knew the best restaurant in the area and headed there for pizza. And after lunch, Germany saw the time and saw that they have to find a place for the two to take their siesta soon as they headed to a stadium, which was a large, oval shape arena that was larger than the famed Coliseum, and it was on one of the seats that the two took their siesta, leaving the German to read a small book he'd been carrying around in case this happened.

When siesta was over for the two, they headed back to Italy's house and there was a cooking lesson there for the girl while the German worked on some paperwork he brought with him before being called to dinner.

0o0o0o0

The next day they walked to the galleries and spent most of the day doing that. The German was never tired of looking at the galleries as Italy explained to the girl what each painting represented, who painted it, and what historical reference it meant during the period it was painted. Some of it bothered the German, but the girl was taking it in with much interest before she became tired and they stopped for something to eat, took a siesta, and continued until it got dark.

Soon New Years Eve came and Italy rented a gondola and went through the many canals the city offered in Vienna, earning awes from the girl and the German smiling as he took interest as well, even though he had done this dozens of times with Italy already. This sight made the Italian happy as he told them everything that came across before they stopped for something to eat, walked around to shop a bit, then back onto the gondola to head out to outskirts of the city, their dinner packed and ready as they waited for the countdown.

The city was lit and there were a few other gondolas out as well as Italy greeted everyone. And soon everyone was counting down and fireworks exploded in the dark sky, welcoming the New Year.

In the end, after Italy returned the gondola, the girl was asleep in Germany's arms and both men headed back to Italy's house and headed to bed, all three sharing.

0o0o0o0

The New Year's Day was, as Italy proclaimed, the day to grant wishes at the Trevi Fountain. And, as Germany expected, it was crowded when they arrived there, but that didn't deter the Italian in the least as he dragged the two to the edge of the fountain, gave them a coin, taught them the Italian way to make a wish before throwing the coin in the fountain. All three did it in the same time and headed out to sightsee a bit more before Italy saw a poster announcing a party going on and begged Germany to come back in the evening to go.

"But Italy… It's a dressed up kind of event. And I don't have anything for something like that." Germany admitted, not really prepared for something like this, which he should've known after visiting Italy so many times.

"No problem! I know a place that can get you fitted and you will have something to wear before night falls!"

"I really don't want to trouble you."

"No trouble at all! Come on!"

"W-Wait…" He started to say, but it was one of the moments that Italy gained the strength to drag the other, with the girl giggling besides them.

Soon they found the place and the man there had the tape measure out and went around the German, who looked uncomfortable with the man going around him. When that was done, Italy talked to the man in rapid Italian as Germany and the girl waited for them to finish whatever what they discussed and headed to the mask shop and found a mask for all of them.

"A blue mask?" Germany asked as he saw the beautifully crafted eye mask on the girl, bringing out more of her already blue eyes.

She nodded. "I'm planning on wearing the dress that France got me for Christmas."

"Ah." He said as he saw his own mask, which was white with black, ivy-like design. He looked to see Italy, who did their masks with permission of the owner, was working on his own mask.

"Finished!" Italy announced as his mask was similar to Germany's, only with gold instead of black. "Let's head back to see if your outfit is done!" He said as he paid the owner and dragged Germany out of the mask shop, the girl easily following them and they found that the fitter was putting the finishing touches on a very regal black tux with a cape.

Germany tried it on as the tailor made sure that it fit the German comfortably before asking them to give him an hour and the outfit will be theirs.

"You look great, Germany." Italy said, whispering the nation's name as they decided to wander around the shopping place for an hour.

Germany blushed as he cleared his throat. "Thank you, Italy." He said, also whispering the nation's name.

"HEY!"

The trio looked to where the voice came from and saw Turkey walking up to them, TRNC walking besides him.

"Oh hey!" Italy said as he waved to them. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, just sightseeing." Turkey said. "A buddy of mine said that you guys would be here for the New Year's thing."

While the 'adults' talked, Fern-Lui was happy to see TRNC, who blushed. "Hello, how have you been?" She asked.

"Well…" He said as he looked at the ground.

She tilted her head to the side as she went up to the other and bent so that she can get a clear view of the boy's face. "It's rude to look away to someone who is talking to you. Makes them feel that you don't want to talk to them."

The boy looked back at the girl, blushing a bit darker than before, and bit his lip.

She simply smiled as she took out the mask Italy made for her. "What do you think?" She asked as she put it up to her face. "Mi mamma made it for me for the party thing we're going to tonight."

TRNC looked at the beautifully crafted mask, which was a blue with gold and silver ivy designs, bringing out her eyes that he couldn't help but stare. It was only when she took the mask down and saw her face without the mask was he able to find his voice. "It's nice…" He said.

She blinked with a bit of a confused look, but she smiled as she placed the mask in its safety case. "How was your New Years?"

"It was… okay…" He said looking at her eyes once again.

"Have you been in Italy long? We were just killing time while the clothing man finishes up Vati's outfit for the party."

"N-No… we were only here a couple hours now…"

"Oh? What have you seen?"

"N-Nothing much… Mostly the shops here…" He said as Turkey laughed.

"So, all I have to do is wear something fancy and wear a mask, right?"

"Sì. It's a lot of fun!" Italy said.

"I'll take your word for it." Turkey said as he looked down at TRNC. "What do you think? Do you want to experience a masquerade?"

"Masquerade?"

"It's a party where people dress up and wear masks." Turkey explained. "There's a lot of dancing involved."

The boy nodded, making the man laugh and pat his back.

"Well now! Since we're going as well, Fern-Lui now has a dance partner."

TRNC blushed more on that note as he was going to say something, but looked at the girl as she smiled happily.

"I'm so glad you'll be able to come! It's going to be so much fun!" She said.

"The tailor is probably done by now." Germany said, making Italy seemed excited.

"You know where to go, ve?"

"Of course! The posters around here are helpful enough!" Turkey said as they parted ways for now.

"I'll see you later!" She said as she waved at the two, who in turned waved back, the boy shyly doing so. She smiled and started to skip, excited about the upcoming party.

0o0o0o0

Evening fell and the trio made it to the arranged party. Germany wore the mask that Italy made back in the shop as well as the black tux and cape that Italy asked the tailor to fit him with. Italy wore his mask and a light navy Renaissance outfit that came with a hat. Fern-Lui wore the blue dress that France got her, which has a silver-white veil that wrapped around the top, in a slip knot at her right hip, and trailed down.

Germany held onto the girl as they looked for any sign of Turkey and TRNC.

"There they are." Italy said as he spotted them just entering the party. Germany put the girl down as she went up to the boy de facto state, who simply found a mask and didn't change his appearance, while Turkey put some effort in wearing something different.

"Wow, you guys look fancy." Turkey said as he looked at them. "Isn't that the dress that your French uncle got you?" He said, being careful with the names as well.

"Yes it is." She said as she spinned in place.

"And your hair is down."

"Vati is keeping my clips safe." She said as she pointed out her hair clips on the cuffs on Germany's sleeves. "I think it completes the outfit a bit more."

Turkey laughed as he nodded. "I agree." He said as he looked at the boy. "Isn't there something you would like to ask the little lady?"

TRNC blushed as he looked at the girl, who tilted her head slightly, and cleared his throat. "I… Would you… like to… dance?" He said shyly as he held out his hand, eyes keeping on the girl.

Fern-Lui smiled as she accepted the hand. "I would love to." She said with a playful smile, making the boy nearly loose balance when he tried to walk.

Once the two were out on the dance floor, Turkey couldn't help but chuckle. "I believe the little guy has taken a fancy to your little girl."

"Ve~ I knew it!" Italy said with a smile.

"Huh? What?" Germany said as he looked back at the two children dancing, the boy messing up a lot of steps, but the girl didn't mind as she helped him how to dance correctly.

Italy giggled and latched himself onto the German's arm. "I just noticed earlier that he seemed flustered when the two of them were talking. It's absolutely adorable."

"I agree." Turkey said with a sigh. "And I'm a bit concern about that."

"Why's that?" The two nations asked in unison.

"You know how it is." He said as he softly added. "She's a mortal and he's not."

"I see…" Germany said as he looked back at the two, the boy now being better and leading, as well as smiling and looking like he was enjoying himself.

"Oh right…" Italy said. "I keep forgetting that Fern-Lui is mortal."

"I know… I believe most of us keep forgetting that fact, but what can we do about it?" He said as he grabbed a glass of wine. "She's just one amazing kid."

"Ve~ I know! She surprises me every day!" Italy said as they talked about the kids before Turkey finished his glass and looked at the two.

"So… you two feel like a married couple?" He asked, causing Germany to nearly choke on the liquid, which panicked the Italian, which brought attention to the few people that happened to be around.

Once Germany composed himself and Italy calmed down, the German cleared his throat, which stung from nearly choking on a really good glass of wine, and looked at the Turkish nation. "Why would you ask that question?"

Turkey blinked before he tried not to laugh, but failed. "Y-You serious? Oh man! I should've known!"

"Known what!"

"Ve! You're scary now!"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Turkey said as he grabbed another glass. "Hell, everyone was wondering if you two are doing anything now that you're parents and all."

"D-Don't assume something like that!" Germany said blushing. "I swear… you're worse than Bruder!"

"Ve~ What are you two talking about?"

Germany groaned as he told Italy to forget it, that it wasn't important.

Turkey felt a bit bad for the German, but he looked at Italy and noticed something in the amber eyes that seemed to tell a different story. But he wasn't a match maker so he just left it at that.

0o0o0o0

On the dance floor, the two kids paused in their dance to watch the three larger nations talking.

"I wonder what they're talking about?" She asked.

"Something that we shouldn't get involved." TRNC said as they went back to dancing. "So… Fern-Lui…"

"Hm?"

"Uh… How… how do you like this world?"

She smiled. "I love it here. Everything is so different from home."

"Have you… ever thought about going back?" He asked, and noticed that they were dancing slower now.

"I do miss my real family back home. But things over there aren't looking good even before I came here." She said as she looked to the ground. "To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll ever go back home."

The boy embraced her, not wanting to see her sad, and blushed at what he did, but he felt her return the embrace, he let it be and just continued to slow dance with the girl until the music stopped and they were facing each other once more.

"Sorry… for suddenly hugging you like that." He said with a blush.

She shook her head. "I needed it. Thank you."

He blushed as he held her hand. "If… you need another hug… don't hesitate to."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well… None of us know what you're going through really… And you don't have to say anything, but let us help you in a way." He looked down at their joined hands to try to hide the rising blush. "I can tell you're strong for holding whatever you have on your shoulders, but don't forget that we're now involved in your life now. For as long as you're here. What I'm saying is that we're here for you..."

She was a bit taken aback by what the boy had to say and smiled a little as she blinked away the tears that threatened to come down. "TRNC" She whispered, making the boy look up and placed a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

He blinked a he shifted their hands, trying to find words to say. "You're welcome…" He managed to say and felt embarrassed that he didn't find any other meaningful words to say.

She smiled as she blushed a bit as well and led them to the refreshments. "Let's get something to eat. I'm getting a little hungry."

"Uh, yeah… me too…" He said, again feeling embarrassed, but he looked at their joined hands and felt his heart beat against his chest.

0o0o0o0

"Let's dance!" Italy said as another song came up and dragging the German to the dance floor.

"W-Wait a sec!" He said, but it was fruitless as he was dragged to the floor and Italy led the first dance. He let the other do so, since he saw the two children were with Turkey and enjoying the snacks that were available. But when he turned his attention to the Italian, he felt hypnotized by the golden-hazel eyes that the golden ivy seemed to enhance. He took over the lead and danced the rest of the night before the announcement that the party was at its end and he came back to his senses.

"Ve~ You're a great dance partner." Italy said happily. "We should dance more often."

Germany blushed as they went up to Turkey, who was holding two very asleep children, and took the girl.

"Well, that was fun while it lasted." Turkey said quietly. "I think the little guy here loves Italy now." He chuckled.

"Ve~ I'm glad he enjoyed himself." Italy said as he looked at the girl and moved a bang away from her face. "I bet she enjoyed it too, ve."

Germany nodded, seeing the content smile on the girl's face, which in turn made him smile.

Turkey saw the touching sight of the three and shook his head. 'Definitely like a married couple with a loving child in the mix.' He thought as he looked at the boy in his arms, removed the mask, and saw that the boy too has a content smile on his face. 'Looks like it can't be helped…' He sighed with a grin on his face as he looked at the two nations. "Well… we better head back to our hotel."

"Okay." Italy said as he waved. "Don't hesitate to come by my house."

"I know, I know." He said as he started to walk down the mostly quiet street.

0o0o0o0

The trio headed back to Italy's house, where Italy changed the girl to her pajamas, sang a lullaby to her, and joined Germany in bed.

"You still awake Germany?"

Germany made a sound to let the other know that he was awake and listening.

"I've been wondering what Turkey said earlier."

Germany opened his eyes and looked at the Italian. "About what?"

"About Fern-Lui being mortal…" He said as he held the pillow. "Which means she will grow up while we stay the same."

Germany turned to face the other fully. "I know…" He said. "If her parents don't come back for her, we will face that reality."

Italy sighed. "First the thought of her returning to her world made me sad, but now the thought of her growing old and die one day is just sadder."

Germany wiped away a rebel tear that managed to come out from the Italian's knowing and looked at the other in the eye. "Italy, I know the reality is sad and I don't like it anymore than you do. But at least we will be there for her, verses her being alone."

Italy blinked and nodded. "You're right." He said with a smile. "I don't think I can survive on my own without knowing I have someone who cares and loves me." He giggled. "Fern-Lui is lucky to be found by us, huh?"

Germany smiled a bit as he patted on the top of the other's head. "Or are we lucky to have her?"

Italy laughed as he snuggled closer to Germany. "You know what to say to make me feel better."

"I don't know about that…" He said, but he heard the other snore and sighed. 'Why do I bother?' He thought as he wrapped an arm around the Italian and closed his eyes to let sleep take over.

0o0o0o0

In a hotel somewhere in Rome, Turkey was looking over some paperwork, finding that he couldn't sleep, when TRNC was roused from his.

"Hey, you know it's late, right?" He said as he placed his white mask aside.

TRNC looked around the room before looking at the man. "Where are we? And where did Fern-Lui go?"

Turkey chuckled as he explained where they were and that Fern-Lui is safe at home with Italy and Germany.

TRNC sighed and laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Turkey…"

"Yes?"

"Have you ever felt nervous and embarrassed around someone before, but you like it at the same time."

Turkey went over to sit beside the boy, hat absent to sleep. "Do you feel that way when you were with her?"

He nodded.

Turkey smiled a small smile as he patted the boy's head. "That feeling is called liking a person. You like her for reasons that are only yours to understand."

TRNC blushed as he shook his head. "But that's crazy! We're completely different!"

"I know…" He said as he fatherly held the boy. "But you can deny all you want, and if you continue to feel that way, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad."

"But… she's mortal… And I'm…"

Turkey petted the boy's head. "Feelings like that are like a double edged sword, there's a good and a bad. You feel good when you know you found something you like, but at the same time it's painful because there's something that's in the way."

TRNC sighed. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Well… this is your first time liking someone. And there are not a lot of female micro-nations for you to like, other than Wy."

"But I don't like her like that at all."

Turkey chuckled as he tucked the boy in. "Would you like to see her tomorrow? We might run into them again."

TRNC blushed. "I didn't really say goodbye to her at the party…"

"Would you want to say that though? Goodbye is a hard word to say."

TRNC then took the blankets over his head. "Ask me again in the morning!"

Turkey laughed as he patted the lump on the bed. "Alright then. I'll see you in the morning." He said as he got off the bed and returned to work, a small sad smile on his face. 'He's already falling for her.' He thought.

* * *

TRNC doesn't get a lot of love yet, but I thought it would be adorable to have a love intrest between my OC and him (and sticking by it). So, he'll have more roles to play here.


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter 13: A Day with Three Uncles_

Fern-Lui woke up to the smell of breakfast, and knew her Vati was making it by the smell of eggs and sausages. She got up and headed down to find not only her Vati, but also her Onkel. "Onkel!" She called out happily as she ran up to the Prussian, who scooped her up in his arms, laughing and hugging her.

"Hey there Squirt!"

"I'm not a squirt!" She said while laughing as her uncle tickled her. "Onkel! Onkel! Onkel!" She pleaded as he stopped to let her breathe, but both were laughing.

"Guten Morgen Fern-Lui." Germany said, smiling at the active duo.

"Guten Morgen Vati Deutschland." She said as she finally settled down and her plate was ready. "Is Mamma Italia going to join us?"

"He should be up any second now. Otherwise I'll wake him up."

"By kissing him back to life." Prussia teased, earning his plate being taken away. "Oh come on West! I'm starved here!"

"Earn it and I'll let you have it back."

"How do you propose I do that!"

"Ve~ Buon giorno everyone…" Italy said, wearing only one of Germany's shirts, which always end up looking like a dress on his small frame.

"Buon giorno, Mamma Italia!" She said as she ran up and hugged the Italian, who returned it just as cheerfully.

"Ve~ You're very happy this morning."

"I feel very happy." She said as she dragged the Italian to the table, where his plate was served. "What are we gonna do today?"

"Your mamma has paperwork to do." Germany said as he pointed to the stack of papers.

"Ve~" Italy sighed as he ate his breakfast.

"Do you have work to do, Vati Deutschland?"

"Ja, so Prussia would take you out today."

"Cans I haz food now?" Prussia groaned.

"Speak like a normal human being!"

"Nuuu…" He whined, making the girl giggle.

"I wanna visit Zio Romano and Tío España. Can you take me Onkel Preußen?"

"Of course! Spain is a buddy of mine, though I would rather avoid Romano and his issue with Germans. But if you're with me, he wouldn't complain."

"Zio Romano isn't a bad person, Onkel Preußen. Just like you're not a bad person."

"Just as sweet as ever." He said as Germany placed his plate back in front of him. "Thanks West!"

"You're going to need it if you're going to see Romano and Spain." Germany said, which fell on deaf ears once Prussia started shoving food in his mouth. "And don't stuff yourself when someone's talking to you!"

"Waah~ Germany's scary!" Italy said as the girl giggled as she finished her plate and headed to the sink, only for the German to beat her too it.

"You go get dressed, I got this."

"Okay!" She said happily as she headed to her room.

0o0o0o0

When she came out in light blue jeans, a white shirt and the necklace that Prussia gave her on Christmas, she saw that Prussia was ready to go, and commented on how awesomely cute she is, and gave her parents a hug and kiss before walking out the door and into Italy's car.

"And for the love of Gott, please don't drive crazy!" Germany shouted out when Prussia started up the car.

"I know West! Yeesh! I got my awesome niece on board!" He called back as the girl giggled and he drove out of the driveway and headed out to south Italy. "If I remember from my last chat with Spain, he said he was going to Romano's place to help him with the tomato crop for when they get into season." He said.

"Should we call to let them know we're coming?"

"And miss the surprise looks on their faces? No way!" Prussia said laughing.

She giggled as she looked out of the window in time to see Turkey and TRNC walking down the street. "Pull over Onkel!"

"Eh?" He said as he did just that as she pressed the button to roll the window down and called out to Turkey and TRNC in their native language.

The two looked and were surprised to see her as they went up and exchanged greetings with Prussia.

"So, where are you heading off to?" Turkey asked.

"We're going to Zio Romano's house to visit. You two can come if you like."

"Thanks, but Romano wouldn't want me near his place." Turkey said. "And if Spain is there, then there's no way I would take one step without starting an argument of some sort."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Oh no, don't apologize. It's something past related."

She nodded understandingly as she looked at TRNC. "How are you this morning?"

TRNC blushed, but he was able to respond with that he was feeling good, in both sense of the word.

"That's good!" She said happily. "Well, if Zio Romano is able to teach me how to make his famous tomato sauce, I'll be sure to make one for you too. Or do you not like tomatoes?"

"I like them!" He said suddenly. "It's… just not a huge deal in my home…"

"I see. Well, I'll make you one so you can try it. Okay?"

"I… would like that." He said with a smile on his face.

She smiled as she told them later and wished them a good day and she and Prussia headed out.

Turkey looked at the boy, who would walk on air at this point. He shook his head as they made their way down the street, the boy practically skipping beside him. 'Young love…' He thought with a smile on his face.

0o0o0o0

Back with the two, Prussia found Romano's house and the girl immediately went out and started knocking. By the time the Prussian reached to where the girl was, the door opened and Romano looked like he was going to have a fit when the girl tackled him to a hug.

"F-Fern-Lui!"

"Sì! I wanted to call to let you know we were coming, but Onkel Preußen thought it was more fun to surprise you!"

"Of course…" He said as he glared at the grinning Prussian before patting the girl's head. "Well, you two are just in time to plant some tomato seeds."

"Really!" She said excitedly.

Romano smiled at the girl's enthusiasm, and nodded. "Yeah, follow me." He said as the girl grabbed his hand and happily walked beside him, Prussia following behind them with a pout on his features.

0o0o0o0

When they headed outside, both the Prussian and the girl gasped, but for completely different reasons.

"Wow! You have such a large patch for tomatoes!" She said, seeing the mile long and wide garden for the tomatoes.

"Sì, last year's batch was successful. I'm hoping for this year to be the same if not better."

"Is it possible for you to teach me to make that tomato sauce?"

Romano smiled. "We're working with our fifth lane right now, so sometime around lunch I can teach you."

"Yay!" She cheered as the Italian looked over at the Prussian.

"You're helping, you albino potato."

Before Prussia had a chance to retort, Spain came up and was instantly happy to see the girl and his best bud.

"¡Bienvenida! Welcome!" He said as he picked the girl up, spinned in place and hugged her. "How's el rayo pequeño de la luz doing today?" (1)

She giggled as she hugged back. "Great!" She said happily before being placed down. "Can I help too?"

"Of course! Rayo pequeño de la luz."

"What's with the nickname?" Prussia asked with a grin.

"I figured it would be cute to give her one, like I call Romano mi Tomate Pequeño." (2)

"S-Shut up!" He said as he put in a hard punch on the Spaniard's arm, which he simply laughed off.

0o0o0o0

And in a matter of minutes, Prussia and the girl were out planting seeds until it was almost time for lunch, which Spain and Prussia stayed out in the field to continue planting while Romano taught the girl how to make the tomato sauce while he made the pasta.

Once lunch was done, everyone enjoyed themselves, though there were some arguments as far as Romano and Prussia were concerned, making Spain and the girl talk to each other while they left the two to vent.

When siesta came around, Prussia made himself at home by watching television, but couldn't help seeing the cute sight of the girl, his best bud, and the angry Italian, all sleeping peacefully in a family group fashion. Watching them made him sleepy and joined in.

Soon they were done by sunset and Fern-Lui called Italy and told him that they were heading back with her tomato sauce, which Italy exclaimed happily that he was going to start making the pasta.

"So you have to head back now." Spain said, a bit sad that they only spent a few hours together.

"Sì, but we'll meet again. And this time we'll call to let you guys know."

"You be sure to do that," Romano said as he petted the girl's head. "Pomato."

"Pomato?"

"Potato and tomato together. Since you're half German and half Italian and all. And Spain was giving you a nickname, so… I figured I'll give you one as well."

She smiled and hugged the Italian. "I love it, Zio Romano!"

Romano blushed as he hugged the girl back. "I'll see you around then."

"Yep!" She chirped.

0o0o0o0

Once that conversation was done, she and Prussia exchanged their farewells with Romano and Spain and headed back to Italy's house, where the smell of pasta was strong before they reached the door.

When they sat down, the two explained what they've done and the other two told them that their day was pretty boring, and as Germany puts it, got a lot of their paperwork done.

Then Prussia's cell went off, and the ringtone was a national anthem. "Excuse me." He said as he ran out of the room and went outside.

"That was strange…" Germany said after a moment of silence. "Even for him."

"I wonder who called? That ringtone sounds familiar."

"That's Canada's national anthem."

"Who?" Said the two, making the girl sweat drop.

"America's brother? That's north of his home continent?"

"Oh!" The two said, remembering him now.

"Ve, I didn't know Prussia's good friends with him."

"Neither did I." Germany said as he picked up the empty plates. "But from what I know, Canada is not like America, and a lot sane than France. So it's good to know that mein Bruder can make sensible friends as well."

Fern-Lui looked out of the window in the kitchen to see Prussia, swaying in place as if happy. "Onkel seems happy." She said as Germany looked out of the window and shook his head.

"I feel sorry for that guy though. Bruder can be a pain when he wants to be." He said as he started to wash the dishes.

Not long after that, Prussia re-entered the kitchen and glomped the other German from behind. "West!" He sang. "May I borrow something of yours?"

Germany looked at his brother with a raised brow. "What is it, for what are you going to use it for, and why."

Prussia rolled his eyes. "Jeeze West, what do you take me for?"

"France number 2." He said blankly, seeing his brother acting hurt.

"How… How could you even think that!" Prussia said dramatically as he looked at the remaining two in the room. "Italy! Your husband is so cruel to me!"

"We're not married!" Germany barked.

"You two adopted Fern-Lui together, therefore, you're considered married."

"What kind of logic is that!"

Prussia grinned at the other's blush. "An awesome one, by the awesome me."

Germany face-palmed, only realizing too late that his hands were wet and covered in soap suds, making the brother laugh.

"That is perfect!" He said in-between his laughter.

Before Germany could snap, Fern-Lui offered a cloth to her vati and looked at her onkel. "Onkel Preußen, are you going over to Canada's house?"

Prussia took a moment to compose himself. "Yeah… I am."

"Ve, but you just got here." Italy said.

"I just wanted to physically check how you guys were doing." He said as he tickled the girl, making her laugh as she struggled playfully.

Germany sighed, not able to stay angry with his brother when he gets this playful. "So, what is it that you want?"

"Oh yeah, can I borrow that frying pan you use to make toasted sandwiches? Canada is gonna teach me how to make and flip pancakes in the air."

"Pancakes?" Germany said with a raised brow.

"Was?"

"Nothing, nothing." He said as he waved it off. "Okay, you can borrow the pan, but I expect it back in the same condition."

"Yeah, yeah." He said as he messed the girl's hair. "I'll be seeing you around, Überwältigend Reizende Nichte." (3)

She giggled as she watched the other go. "Enjoy making pancakes! Be sure I get a sample when you're done!"

Prussia laughed as he promised and walked out of the door.

"Come and gone, ve…" Italy said as Germany sighed.

"At least he's being productive… to many days when he would annoy me when I'm in the middle of something."

"Ve~ Am I annoying too?" Italy asked, looking sad.

"You're a different kind of annoyance that I welcome." He said and thoughtfully added. 'Though I don't have a choice but to welcome his kind of annoyance.'

"Ve~ That's good! I don't know what I do if Germany started to hate me."

Germany blushed as he continued to wash the dishes. "I told you this before, I don't hate you." He said with another thought. 'Not like I could ever hate you. Well, maybe that one moment back in that war when he just bluntly told the allies about… that…' He sighed, making the two occupants in the room confused.

"Vati Deutschland? You okay?"

"Ja, just thinking."

She giggled as she excused herself and headed to the bathroom to wash up.

0o0o0o0

Italy watched her go to the bathroom before looking at the German washing the dishes before getting up, grabbed a dry hand towel, and started to dry the washed dishes.

Germany didn't know why the other came to help, but he appreciated the help and continued to wash the dishes.

"Germany?"

"Ja."

"If you do start to hate me, please tell me."

Germany looked at the Italian, who was looking at the wet plate. "Italy, I told you before-"

"But if you do, tell me…"

Both were in silence for a moment before he asked. "And what would you do if I do start to hate you then?"

Italy smiled. "I'll do whatever I can to make Germany like me again."

Germany smiled a bit as he handed the clean plate to the other. "I'll do the same then."

"Hm?"

"If you ever find yourself not liking me for whatever reason, then I'll do whatever I can to make you like me again, even a little."

Italy blinked as he smiled. "Well that's impossible! Because I really like Germany a lot!"

The other blushed as he handed the last of the clean dishes. "I like you a lot too…"

Italy smiled as he dried the last of the dishes and he and the German headed to the living room and watched something on television before the girl joined them and headed to bed when she fell asleep.

* * *

Translations:

The little ray of light – Spanish (European)

my Little Tomato – Spanish (European)

Awesomely Cute Niece - German


	14. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14: Russian Gifts and Homeschool Future_

A few days went by and Fern-Lui spent a lot of her time outside with her two parents, even though the German mentioned about new paperwork that the Italian should at least look over, and they headed to where the sunflowers were and she wanted to bring a bunch back. Of course Italy gained the favor of the owner of said sunflowers and they were able to get a bouquet of the sunflowers and Germany drove them back to Italy's home.

Along the way, the girl made a flower crown out of the flowers when Italy made a confused sound.

"Ve? Is that Russia?"

They looked to see the man, without the coat and wearing a white shirt and jeans, was waiting out on front of Italy's door with Ukraine and Belarus.

Germany parked Italy's car in the drive and Russia went up to greet them.

"Ciao!" Russia greeted with his best attempt at Italian. "I was wondering if you guys would come back."

"Дядя Россия! Тетушка Украина! Тетушка Белоруссия!" She said happily, carrying three completed sunflower crowns, as she ran up to the large nation, who bent down with arms spread out as she ran into them and lifted up. "When did you get in?" She asked as she looked at the man before him. (1)

"Only three hours ago. The flight took a while, and the traffic here is so amusing. But luckily everyone is so nice, if not a little strange when I asked them about this address." He said, making Italy go behind Germany as the girl giggled. "Hm? You got a lot of sun I see, you're getting that slight tan on you."

"I have been asking Vati Deutschland and Mamma Italia to take me out a lot. Because there's so much to see here." She said as she placed the sunflower crown on his head and smiled. "Perfect!"

Russia blinked as he felt around his head and felt the familiar shape of the sunflowers and smiled. "You think it's perfect on me, da?"

"Da!" She said happily. "I started making the crowns for whatever reason." She said as she handed the other two crowns to Ukraine and Belarus

Russia looked touched as he smiled gently as he petted her head before setting her down. "I got something for you." He said as he held out a wrapped box.

"So did we!" Ukraine said happily as she held out her gift while Belarus did the same, looking away as she did.

"Ve! That's right! Today is your Christmas." She said as she took the boxes and opened it. She saw a nesting doll of Germany and laughed. "Благодарите Вас! Дядя Россия!" (2)

"I'm glad you like it. I didn't know if I got your father's features right."

Germany saw the nesting doll and immediately didn't like it. 'What the hell?' He thought as the girl opened the doll to see Italy, but wearing what looked like a dress.

"You also got Mamma Italia in there!" She said, which Italy looked over and nervously laughed.

"There's one more."

She opened the Italy doll to see her. "And me!" She said with a giggle. "This is great!" She said as she opened Ukraine's gift, which was a fluffy sheep plush toy. "How cute!" She said as she looked at the nation. "Thank you!"

Ukraine smiled happily. "I didn't know what you would like, so I figured something soft would do."

"I'm definitely going to be dead asleep with it." She said with a giggle as she opened up Belarus's gift, which was a dagger of all things.

"What kind of gift is that!" Germany demanded as Belarus turned her nose up.

"You being a military man could teach a girl like her to defend herself at least." She said simply. "And it's one of my old daggers from when I was a younger nation, so it can't really kill anyone."

Fern-Lui tried to get the dagger out of the case, but found it difficult to get it out. "Looks like I wouldn't be able to use it anyway, but thank you, Тетушка Белоруссия, that was really thoughtful of you."

Belarus blushed a bit as she eyed the girl from the corner of her eye. "Never mention it again."

Russia sighed before looking at the girl and smiled. "I can make you another nesting doll if you like, for your birthday."

"Really?"

"Da. I'll make one with everyone in it."

"Ve! That would be amazing!" She said, eyes seeming to sparkle more.

He chuckled as he petted her head. "Now that I mention it, would you tell me your birthday?"

"It's May twenty-second."

"Oh? Is that so?"

She nodded. "Yep! May twenty-second, born in nineteen hundred hours and thirty-nine minutes."

The nations blinked as Russia tilted his head. "So May 22, 1939?"

She giggled. "You make it sound like I was born in that year."

Russia chuckled as he patted the girl's head once more before standing up straight. "I'm sorry, it's just a strange coincidence, is all."

"Eh?" She said as she tilted her head. "Are you going to join us for lunch?"

"That would be lovely, especially since we've been waiting for what seem like hours, da?" He said as he looked at the two nations, who knew the smile would promise not nice things if refused. Needless to say that it made Italy tremble and Germany had to act strong, yet again, to the large nation.

"It will take awhile." Germany said, knowing that it will take time to calm down Italy from one of his panic episodes.

"I got a game all of us can play!" The girl announced happily.

"Oh? I can't wait to know what it is!" Russia said as he let the girl grab his hand, which made Belarus not happy, but followed nonetheless, and Ukraine followed as well.

"Let us know when lunch is done! Okay?" She said to her parents before going to the backyard with the three nations.

Once the four were out of earshot, Italy let out a sigh of relief. "Russia's scary…"

"Must've had a hard time getting here then… Especially with Belarus tagging along."

"Ve~ I better make lunch…"

"You need help?"

Italy nodded as he raised up his hand, which was shaking. "Can you cut up the tomatoes? I don't think I could cut them like this."

Germany nodded, fearing of the other losing a finger if he let the other cut anything.

0o0o0o0

It took some time, but lunch was served, Russia and his sisters were content, the girl keeping the atmosphere light and cheery, much to both the German and the Italian nations' relief, and soon the three nations headed out of Italy's house and went back to their hotel.

"Ve~ Time for a siesta…" Italy said as he dragged himself to the living room, where the girl was already asleep for the siesta.

Germany looked at the time and saw that it was four in the afternoon, and he knew that Italy wouldn't be up until five or six now because he missed an hour keeping Russia, and mostly his younger sister, content. He folded Italy's clothes, placed a blanket over them, but then felt a little tired as well and lifted both of them up, laid onto the couch, and all three took a nap that afternoon.

Italy woke up a bit and saw the German under him, with an arm wrapped around him and their daughter and smiled. He gently kissed the jaw and went back to sleep, wrapping his arm around the girl as well, bringing her close to him and have her ear over the German's strong heartbeat.

Unknown to the two, the girl was on the verge of a nightmare before she heard the heartbeat and felt two arms around her, one strong and one gentle and both protective. Then she heard the sound of a strong heart that she remembered hearing all the time back with her real parents and the nightmare was chased away by this heartbeat. In her sleep she smiled and fisted some of the material of Germany's faded grey shirt.

If anyone looked into the sight now, anyone would agree that it was one of the perfect family moments in such a peaceful time.

That's what happened when Romano had the urge to see his brother, Spain following to make sure that Romano doesn't jump into conclusions as he usually does. And when both entered the house, since Romano has the spare key, and saw the trio on the couch, the first thing that Spain did was wrap his arms around Romano, yet Romano didn't move or make a sound.

"They're cute like that, aren't they, Romano?" Spain asked as he rested his head on top of Romano's head.

"They are…" Romano admitted. "I still don't like that damn potato bastard…" He said quietly as Spain chuckled as he took out a camera. "Why do you have that?"

"It was a gift from Prussia, I thought it would come in handy." He said as he found a perfect position to get the three and took the shot. He looked at the picture on the small screen and showed it to Romano. "Good? No?"

"Don't turn French on me, bastard." He said as he looked at the picture. "Not bad…" He said as he mentioned to the kitchen. "Come on, we better make dinner."

"Oh? What a very thoughtful brother you are, Romano."

"Shut it, bastard. I just want something to eat, and since they'll be up anytime soon, may as well make enough for everyone."

Spain smiled as he put his camera away and helped the older Italian with dinner preparation.

0o0o0o0

When the trio did wake up, they were greeted with a dinner from Spain and Romano, much to the surprise of the trio, which was welcomed and everyone did enjoy the meal, even though Germany had to deal with Romano's settle insults that aimed towards him but not making the girl feel bad.

When dinner was done, the two Italies and the girl were in the kitchen once more to make desserts while Spain and Germany were, more or less, kicked out of the kitchen and were left in the living room, watching television, which Germany could barely understand.

"So, Germany." Spain said as he easily relaxed in the couch. "How's being a dad so far? Looks like an easy job."

"Ah… No, it's just Fern-Lui is a very calm and happy child. But I recently read something about adopted children and how they react to their new family…"

"Oh?"

Germany felt a little awkward, but he continued to talk. "Well… Children have a tendency to believe that whatever happens, they believe it to be their fault when it isn't. I was worried that she might not be saying anything because she believes that whatever happened in her world, is her fault and they had to send her here to keep her safe."

Spain immediately became interested. "Keep her safe from what?"

"It's only a theory." He said, seeing the sudden interest in the Spaniard and sighed. "I got the results for her schooling the other day…"

"Oh? I didn't know she took a test for it."

"It was sometime before we arrived in America's Christmas party…"

"So? How smart is our little flower?"

"Well, she excelled in language and history as expected… but looks like math and worse so science is her worse subjets." He said.

"Really? I thought she might be really smart enough to go to college or something."

"Thankfully no. She's not super human you know."

"So… are you going to send her to school?"

"Nein…"

"Eh? What about her education then? Even I know a gifted child still has to go to school."

"Italy and I talked it over last week, and we decided that we will home school her."

"Home school?"

Germany nodded. "I even talked to my boss about it over the phone when I received the report on her, and he agrees that, because she's our adopted child that any public or private school is just going to target her and let people who don't know of our existence get involved. So it was best to let her be homeschooled to keep it like it the way it is now."

Spain can see the worry in the German's features and pressed onto the questions. "But isn't that a good thing? That gives us all the more reason to dote on her?"

"She also needs outside human interaction. She can't always stay with us… She's mortal after all…"

Spain knew that as well, but he sometimes wants to forget that as well. "Being a father is a tough job…"

"So is being an uncle." Germany said, making the other chuckle.

"Yeah…" He said when the trio came out of the kitchen, desserts in hand to serve.

The two nations looked at the girl, happy and talking about anything and nothing like her adoptive mother, but they knew the sweet girl will one day become a woman, and time wasn't kind to them with that reminder. But they put on smiles and entertained the idea that the girl is one of them, and that would explain why she can't go to a normal school and interact with other people, if only for a moment.

0o0o0o0

Later that evening, Spain and Romano headed out of the door, with hugs from the girl, they entered Romano's car and headed out of sight.

"What were you talking about with the Potato Bastard?" Romano asked.

"About Fern-Lui."

"What about her?"

"That her least favorite subject is math and science." He said.

"I don't like those either. So is she going to school then?"

"Germany and Italy agreed that they were going to home school her to keep her from being bullied and avoid any Parent-Teacher Conferences that come with the school thing."

"Oh… What else?"

"Her well being and, because she's going to be homeschooled she won't be able to interact with others."

"So what? She has us."

"She's not like us, Tomate pequeño. She won't stay a child forever, nor will she age like we do. She will age like our people have done since the dawn of man."

Romano started to drive slower, which Spain noticed and quietly said the Italian's name. "Just shut up forever, bastard."

Spain knew the other didn't mean forever, but he remained quiet as they reached to Romano's house. 'I wonder if other nations are thinking the same thing?' He thought as he tucked the other in and was going to head to the guest room when he felt a hand grab his and looked to see the other telling him to stay, which he obliged willingly, knowing that the knowledge that they would lose the sweet little girl one day was hard to think about.

* * *

Translations:

Uncle Russia! Auntie Ukraine! Auntie Belarus! – Russian

Thank you, Uncle Russia! - Russian


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15: What Would You Like?_

Soon it was February, and everyone met up in Italy for a World Conference, which the girl was more than happy to greet everyone, but then noticed that Egypt wasn't present. She had heard about the riots that went on in Cairo and Egypt wasn't able to attend to the meeting to recover the turmoil that went on. She was working on a get well gift as the meeting went on, which were also concerned for Egypt's well being, but mostly about the political standpoint, which as nations have to focus on things like that.

But she was also working on her Valentines for everyone as she hoped Egypt will be well enough for her to give to him in person.

"Hey Fern-Lui!" Sealand called out, already bored with the meeting, which was almost done for the most part.

"Sealand! Be quiet during a meeting!" England called out.

"It's almost done anyway! You British Jerk!"

England groaned as the meeting went on.

Sealand went up and sat down next to the girl. "What's up?"

"I'm just making a get well gift for Egypt. And I'm thinking about what to make for Valentines." She said as she continued to sketch out something that resembled the pyramids.

"Oh right! It's that time of the year, huh? What would you like for Valentines?"

"Could you please lower your voice, Sealand? I'm right here you know." She said calmly, eyes not leaving the sketch she's working on. "And Valentines isn't my birthday, so you shouldn't worry about getting anything special for me."

"But I want to give you something really cool."

She blushed and giggled. "That's very thoughtful of you, but I got all I need right now." She said with a happy smile on her face.

Sealand though wasn't content. "Why do you have to sound like an old woman?"

"Inside voice." She said with a bit of a sigh.

"And a goody-goody. Is there anything about you that isn't?"

"Do you want to repeat of what happened at America's Christmas Party?" She said with a look that said 'drop it already'.

"You're not going to live that one down, are you?"

"I saved you from not being invited to parties ever again." She pointed out as she looked at her sketch a bit, studying it for a while, before adding a bit more shading to some areas. "And to answer your question as to why I sound like an old woman is because I was taught to be a lady by my strict aunt and uncle."

"That must suck."

"Keeps the peace and order."

"Goody-Two-Shoes-Old-Lady."

She blushed as she tried hard not to punch the annoying boy. 'Not like you would understand.' She thought.

Unknown to the two, both TRNC and Latvia looked at the two with different expressions.

Latvia looked hurt and a bit dejected, tears threatening to come out, and this time not out of fear of Russia.

TRNC glared at Sealand, gripping the seat to keep himself from going over and shove the young, loud micro-nation away from the girl. In a way it surprised him how strongly he felt towards Sealand when talking to the girl he admitted he liked a lot that it surprised him, but he knew it was a normal reaction that can only be settled through talking. But it didn't mean he didn't like it how Sealand seemed to be all over the girl.

0o0o0o0

When the meeting was adjourned, TRNC immediately went up to the two. "Hello." He said with confidence. "What's going on?"

The two looked at the other and the girl smiled happily.

"Hey TRNC! Sealand and I were talking about Valentines. Would you like to help make some for everyone?" She said as she got up and waited for the other to answer, which she was really glad to have some kind of distraction.

The de facto state lost all confidence the moment she looked at him happily and said the first two words. "Uh… sure…" He said as he could feel his face starting to get warm.

She looked around and saw Latvia standing some feet away, as if debating whether to join or leave. "Latvia! Come join us! We need your opinions as well!"

Latvia was taken aback by the invitation, but he went up to the group, followed by Wy and Seborga who were curious about what was going on, followed by Cyprus who wanted to know what his little brother found so interesting.

0o0o0o0

"Something's going on over there." America said with a chuckle.

"As long as it keeps that child quiet, I don't really care what they're planning." England said as he gathered his notes.

"I do hope Ejipoto -san is doing okay." Japan said.

"I do too." America said with a sigh. "Last time I saw him he didn't seem like himself, and the last time we talked it sounded like he was strained or something."

"Of course he would be." Germany said. "His people have been on opposing sides in regards to his boss's retirement."

America sighed. "I know… That guy has been around for a long time… I never did feel comfortable around him when he and my boss have a discussion."

Germany knew how that felt as he gathered his notes and looked to see that Italy was napping, even though he was the host for today's meeting. "Italy!" He said, loud enough for the other to jump up and salute.

"Yes Commander!" Italy said before he realized where he was. "Oh, whoops." He said with a laugh.

Germany shook his head as the kid group dispersed and the girl went up to them. "Ready to go?"

She nodded as she followed her parents to the car when she heard her name and looked to see TRNC running up to her. "Yes?" She said with a curious tilt of her head.

"I…" TRNC started, but then lost his voice once more as his mind was working faster than his mouth. "I was wondering if there's anything you would like for Valentines?"

She blinked and shook her head. "Like I told Sealand, I already have all I need. You don't have to do anything special."

His face started to burn from both embarrassment and the thought that Sealand asked the same question angered him. "Okay… I just thought I'd ask."

She smiled and gave him a kiss on each cheek. "You're very sweet for being thoughtful." She said as she left with a 'later' and joined her parents to the car.

TRNC's mind became a mush as he watched the girl enter the car and wave at him, which he returned as he watched her being driven out of the parking lot before he spun in place. 'I definitely didn't see Sealand get a kiss on each cheek like I did!' He thought happily before he saw Latvia, who was smiling. "Hi…"

"H-Hello…" He said as he walked towards the other. "You like her, don't you?"

TRNC blushed as he looked away. "Is it that obvious?"

"I think a few know, but others…" He said as he left the last part hanging when Sealand came out with a lot of energy. "I'm happy for you though. And to be honest I'm relieved."

"Relieved?" He asked but his question wasn't answered as Sealand suddenly grabbed the nation and they ran towards who knows where. "What did he mean by that?" He asked himself as his brother came up and said something about trying out some Italian ice cream, and of course Turkey and Greece were having a staring contest as they walked out.

* * *

That's about it for today everyone. I'm still working on chapter 16, which is the one I was working before all this craziness went on. It's one of those Valentine's things, but since I'm not a huge fan of the day... I'll just leave it at that. But! Hopefully I would get it done sometime this weekend. If not, oh well.

I hope you enjoyed these chapters, and... later!


	16. Chapter 16

Hey everyone! So, this is the chapter I was working on before the drama a few weeks back. As you can see, it's fricken long and the reason for that is this chapter was originally four to five parts long.

With that said, I hope you enjoy reading this!

_

* * *

_

_Chapter 16: Valentine Wreak_

When Valentine's Day arrived, Fern-Lui woke up to the scent of pancakes and she immediately got up and ran down to the kitchen to see Prussia, making pink, heart shaped pancakes. Germany was also there, helping out by catching some airborne pancakes thrown by the Prussian, annoying him once again.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" She said happily, making the two brothers turn and smile as they returned her greeting.

"Did you sleep well?" Germany asked as he placed the first few pancakes on the plate and set them in front of the girl as she sat down.

She nodded as she took a bite of the pancake, which had the taste of strawberries, and hummed. "So good…"

"I was taught by an awesome pancake teacher." Prussia said as he finished the next few pancakes and flips them in the air. "Catch, West!" He warned as Germany caught the airborne pancakes to a plate, glaring at him.

"Bruder! I told you not to do that!"

"Keeps you on your toes." Prussia countered as he placed the metal heart cookie cutter on the pan and poured the pancake batter.

"Ve~ Smells really good!" Italy said as he finally came down, this time he was wearing one of Germany's shorts as he joined the girl as Germany set his plate in front of him. "Grazie!" He took a bite and hummed the same way as the girl. "So good…"

Both Germans chuckled at the similarity of the two's reactions before finally settling down with their own plates.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she finished up her plate.

"France's house…" Germany said dully, looking like he didn't want to go.

"You think everyone got their Valentine's I sent? Just in case they couldn't make it?" She asked, making Prussia chuckle.

"I'm sure they got there fine. West is a stickler when it comes to getting things on time."

"Only because one of us has to be." Germany said as he pointedly gave his brother a look before finishing his plate.

"Ow…" Prussia said as he finished his orange juice. "Right! I got something to finish up, so I'll meet you guys at France's place." He then disappeared to another part of the room of Italy's home.

"Ve~ I wonder what he has to finish up?" Italy asked which Germany shrugged.

"I wouldn't worry about it." Germany said as he gathered everyone's plates and started to wash them. "Italy, you and Fern-Lui get dressed, alright?"

"Okay!" Both said in unison as they went to their rooms to change.

0o0o0o0

After the trio changed, they heard strange sounds from the room Prussia was using and left him be as they made their way to France, then to Paris, where they went up to a quaint residence that didn't seem to change from its golden era.

"This is Uncle France's house?" She asked as she walked out, wearing a white dress with pastel colored flowers with a white ribbon around her waist, stockings going up to her knees, white dress shoes, and she's wearing her Iron Cross hair clips, which was a huge contrast, but the two nations didn't mind that detail as they went up to the door and waited for someone to open it.

Germany looked at Italy for a moment and saw that the Italian's tie was a bit crooked. "Your tie is crooked Italy." He said as he reached over and straightened it in time when France opened the door.

"Eagar to get to the bed room?" France said teasingly, but with a hint of suggestion that made Germany go red in the face.

"Bonjour! Oncle France!" She said before her Vati or her French uncle make a scene, which was a success as the Frenchman looked her way, got ecstatic, picked her up, and soon was whisked away from the other two nations and into a mob of others.

"Guess who just arrived!" France announced as he held the girl like a trophy.

"You frog! Put that girl down!" England called out as he went over and took the girl from the Frenchman's hands. "And where is Germany and Italy?"

"Ve~ Here we are!" Italy called out as Germany followed, nursing a bloody nose. "France slammed the door on Germany when he took Fern-Lui inside." He guided the German to the bathroom. "We'll be out in a minute!" And with that he closed the door.

"That's so not cool France." America said, feeling sorry for the German.

France waved it off. "It's part of my plan of amore." He said coolly.

"Still, that was really mean what you did to Vati Deutschland …" The girl said as she pouted and crossed her arms. "Vous êtes un oncle moyenne." (1)

That seemed to struck the Frenchman hard as he seemed to resemble stone.

'He brought this on himself.' Most of the nations thought as Sealand went up and patted her back.

"Hey don't worry, your dad can easily kick his butt anyway, so he's going to suffer after your mum fixes him up."

She nodded. "I know. Did we miss anything?"

"Just the snacks! Come on! We need your help with something."

"Huh?" She said as she was dragged off to the depths of the party.

0o0o0o0

Everyone let the kids be as they looked to see the host of the party hasn't gotten over the stoned phase yet.

"Finally, some peace from that annoying git." England said as he took a sip of his tea before hearing a pained groan from the bathroom, followed by panic in Italian.

America slightly cringed before hearing the door bell ring. "I got it!" He said as he got the door and opened it to reveal Japan. "Hey Japan!"

"Ah! Amerika-san, how are you?"

"Fine! Come on in!"

"Arigatou." He said as he entered and saw France. "What has happened to Furansu-san?" He asked as America filled him in when a crash was heard in the bathroom, which seemed to break the spell on France.

"My cologne!" He said as he ran to the bathroom door and tried to open it, but it was locked. "Open up! If I see that you broke my very expensive cologne, there will be hell to pay!"

"Damn it! It's all over me!" Germany said.

"Ve! I'm sorry Germany!"

"Italy! Don't cry!"

"Unlock the door this instant!" France said as he continued to shake the door.

"Some Valentine's party this started out to be, aru…" China said as he helped himself for some of his snacks he brought with him.

Russia chuckled. "I think it's rather amusing. Even Germany looked a bit silly with a bloody nose."

"Aiyaa…"

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, after Italy dragged Germany to France's closest bathroom, he brought the man to the sink where the blood can freely go down without hitting the floors or the German's clothes. He gave the man a cloth while he looked for the first aid he knew France would have somewhere. Once he did he opened and found a small booklet, flipped the pages to broken noses and mentioned the German to sit on the toilet as he tried to follow the instructions to fix the man's nose.

It was going fine until Germany made a deep throated sound of pain, which Italy started to apologize rapidly until the German placed both hands on his shoulders and telling him that he was fine.

When he saw that Germany stopped bleeding, Italy looked for any bandages to use, only to open the wrong thing and the cologne bottle on top of the bathroom cabinet fell onto Germany, luckily there were no signs of cuts on his head, but he was covered in the Frenchman's horrid cologne.

It was at this point that the Frenchman started to threaten them about said cologne and the German was starting to think what else could go wrong?

Germany finally calmed the Italian down as he took off his coat, and found that at least the coat got most of the horrid sent away from his shirt. He would just have to wash down the cologne on his head.

"Ve~ Are you okay, Germany?" Italy asked, the threats from France were nothing but background noise.

"Ja… Just have to wash out France's horrid cologne out of my hair." He said as he turned on the water. "You can go Italy, I can handle things from here."

"Okay…" Italy said as he was about to unlock the door before Germany mentioned his name. "Ve?"

"Thank you Italy for helping me." He said with a smile. "You handled the situation well. I'm proud of you."

Italy blushed and smiled happily. "I'll find Fern-Lui and tell her you're okay. And then we'll get something to eat, okay?"

"Ja." He said as Italy unlocked the door, just in time for France to try to ram through the door, only to ram to the tiled wall of the shower.

"Ve! Is he going to be okay?" Italy asked as Germany looked at the pathetic mess called France.

"What tall and pretty glass of wine you are… Mind coming up to my room for a special entertainment show?" France said as he seemed to be staring at stars and who knows what else.

"He'll be okay, just needs to sleep it off."

"Ve, that's good." Italy said as he headed out of the bathroom to find the girl as well as greeted the other nations and told them that Germany was fine and all that. When he did find her, she went up to him and asked about the German and he told her that he was fine and that he would be out in a moment.

0o0o0o0

When Germany did make it out of the bathroom, leaving his coat with the unconscious France, and closed the door behind him, he joined the group, sporting a bandage on his nose from where Italy mended it. He got the scent out of his hair, but now it wasn't as slicked back as he had had it earlier, but he couldn't do anything about it and just looked for Italy. When he did find Italy, he also saw the girl, who looked happy to see him, but suddenly looked far away before Italy happily told him to join them and quickly smiled. He wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him as he joined the two.

Russia however knew what he saw and his smile faltered, causing some concern to those near him.

"What's wrong, aru?" China asked, who had been hanging around Russia to get away from South Korea.

Russia remained silent, which the Chinese nation knew was something serious. "Russia?"

"Hard to say…" He said seriously, which was a rare occurrence to those who witnessed it. But then he quickly smiled and acted as if it never happened. "So, how is America dealing with your growing economy?"

"Don't change the subject, aru!"

Russia then has a dark look with the smile. "I said it was hard to say… so don't think about it…" He said as the aura around him would've made the 'kolkol' sounds for him, making everyone move away from the possible wrath.

"Aiyaa…" China said as he leaned away from the dark aura, waving his hand as if swatting away a fly. "Why do you do that?"

Russia chuckled. "Because I can." He said which made the Chinese man sigh.

'Why am I over here again?' He thought as he heard South Korea cheer when he saw Japan, who hid behind America, who got glomped by said nation. 'Oh, that's right.' He thought as South Korea and America started to strike up a conversation while Japan took this opportunity to talk to Greece.

0o0o0o0

Turkey entered the residence as TRNC and Cyprus entered as well. "I don't know why you kids like to drag me to these things." He said, playing the part of a disgruntled nation who would like to avoid France's house like the other nations, but he knew his little charge would like to give something to the girl and the day just happened to be perfect. He looked around and found no sight of France. "Hey? Where's that guy anyway? Isn't he the host?"

"The frog is taking a time out from slamming the door on Germany after stealing the poor girl away." England filled in as he continued his tea and looked content.

Turkey laughed. "He gave him a thing to think about, huh?" He said as he found the German and whistled. "This is starting to become an interesting Valentine's Day."

"That happened after France slammed the door on him." England corrected as Turkey hissed.

"Bet that hurt like hell."

"He'll be fine. He's been through worse."

TRNC, meanwhile, blushed as he watched the girl chatting with her parents and few of the nations that came around before she saw him and made her way towards him. 'I'm not ready!' He thought as he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. 'For God's sake! Why do I quickly have these feelings towards her? This is insane!' He thought, keeping his Valentine gift behind him. 'What do I say? What do I do?'

"Happy Valentine's Day, TRNC!" She said happily.

"H-H-Happy Valentine's Day!" He said feeling his face burn. 'Why me?'

"Well, it seems Sealand has a crazy idea for today. I may need your help in keeping him from doing something that will destroy half the house." She said with a roll of her eyes. "I swear sometimes I feel like I'm the older sister."

"Well, you're very smart for your age."

"Not my fault though, I was homeschooled all my life."

TRNC blinked. "You've never been to a real school?"

She shook her head before blinking and looking down the floor.

He knew it was another thing she didn't want to talk about and changed the topic. "So… what's Sealand got in mind this time?"

She sighed, out of relief or the thought of Sealand's plan is unknown, before she looked at him. "Something with explosives and confetti."

"Nothing good then." He said as he felt eased with this conversation that he forgot the gift he hid from her.

"Yeah, and Latvia isn't here yet, it seems he can handle Sealand's crazy antics to something settle, like not doing it at all."

TRNC smiled. "They are really good friends." He said as he shifted his hands, remembering the gift. "Ah!"

She blinked. "What's wrong?"

He started to get nervous as he sighed and handed his gift to her, which was a simple small basket of chocolate covered strawberries. "Happy Valentine's Day… I know you said you didn't want anything special, but I figured I return the favor after your Valentine's gift…" He said, remembering the very nice detailed drawing of one of the coastal beaches. 'How is she so good in art anyway? Is there anything she can't do?' He thought realizing that the girl was practically perfect that it made him wonder if it was all an act from what she must've experienced.

She looked at the small basket of the chocolate strawberries and gingerly took it. "Thank you…" She said softly, shock was written on her face.

"Fern-Lui? Is everything okay?" TRNC asked, wondering if he gave her the wrong gift after all.

She nodded as she closed her eyes and smiled at the boy. "I am! These are my favorites!" She said cheerfully, looking like Italy.

'She…' He thought was cut off as his hand was grabbed and ran along with the girl.

"Come on! Before Sealand takes matters into his own hands!" She said as she led them to where Sealand was.

0o0o0o0

Russia saw the whole thing and he still has his smile, but his eyes told a different story.

"You know that's creepy, right?" China said, still with Russia to avoid being glomped by the hyper Korean.

"I just find it so amusing." He said, but the Chinese man knew better.

"If you don't want to talk about it, fine! But don't look so damn creepy, aru!" He said as he drank his tea.

"Then why are you here, da?" He asked, smiling a bit more.

"I want to avoid South Korea, and he doesn't really like you, aru."

"Oh? I'm some shield to you?"

"Don't go there, aru. Be glad you got someone to talk to besides Belarus. Where is she anyway?"

Russia flinched. "I told her I was going around my home today…"

China looked at the nation. "You know that won't stop her?"

"Nope, but it does give me time to spend with friends, da?"

China sighed as he shook his head. "Just don't expect me to stay here when she finds out."

"When has that stopped you?"

"Not now." China said as he looked at the floor. "That was decades ago…"

"Maybe, but us nations don't really have to worry about time, do we?"

"We do now, unless you don't care about the girl."

Russia's smile faltered a bit. "Don't bring her into this, and I know you didn't mean to."

"But you know full well that time for nations means nothing before she arrived. Now the time will be apparent as she grows up."

Russia then looked dark. "Don't you think I already know this?"

"I'd be surprised if you didn't." He said, with his own dark aura.

"Hey you two!" America called out as the two looked at him. "Seriously, if you two are going to start arguing, do it outside."

It was rare for the American to stand up and have the responsibility to tell others what to do in a way that was mature and considerate.

The two nations looked at the American, then at each other and walked away from each other.

"We were done anyway." China said as Russia said nothing as he took out a bottle of vodka he had carried with him.

America sighed, knowing that this isn't going so well, and it wasn't even his party to worry about.

"You've done the right thing, America." England said suddenly. "Otherwise those two will end up in a painful argument."

America sighed. "Some Valentine's Day this is…" He said as he looked back to see Japan and Greece, talking contently about something.

England looked to where the American was looking and sighed. "You know that you can confuse one feeling for another."

"It's not that." He said as he looked away and smiled. "What about you? Shouldn't you check on France now?"

"Bah! As if I'm worried about that perverse frog! If anything I do believe this party is going well without him trying to feel everyone within his reach!"

America laughed. "Worried about Fern's innocence, huh? Well it seems there's another thing you and Germany have in common!"

"Wanker! What do I possibly have in common with him!"

"Both of you are…" America paused as he looked like he tried to remember something before looking back to Japan. "Hey Japan! What was that word you used to describe Germany?"

"Tsundere."

"That's it! You two are that."

"Do you bloody know what that is? You git!"

"Yeah, it means you two are asses, but are actually big softies." He said with a laugh while England was in-between being embarrassed and strangling the American.

0o0o0o0

While all of this went on, Fern-Lui and TRNC, as well as some of the other child-like nations, micro or not, were talked into finishing the large Valentine's heart that he somehow got in without anyone knowing.

"Isn't this cool?" Sealand said as he stood back to admire the large, float-like heart with sparkling words saying 'Happy Valentines from Sealand' on it.

"Definitely better than what you originally thought up." Wy said.

"Yeah! It is!" Sealand said as he wrapped an arm around Fern-Lui. "We make a good team, huh?"

She sighed. "I just don't want to see Oncle France's house being burned down."

"But it would've worked!"

"No it would not." She said. "Couldn't you do something simpler?"

"What's the fun in that?"

"Should've known…" She said as she face-palmed, making the British boy laugh.

"You're definitely Germany's girl. He does that a lot!"

She blinked as she blushed. "Must be contagious…" She said with a slight grin. "So, is this for everyone?"

"Nope! It's for Germany." Sealand said, earning a few bewildered looks. "What?"

"You have a crush on him?" Fern-Lui asked.

"I did for a while, but now it's mostly a thank you kind of thing."

"For what?"

Sealand laughed. "And you said you were a history nut!" He said as he looked authorative. "Germany is the one who recognized me as a country sometime back! And I owe him for that!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Sealand said while he laughed.

"After your boss practically kept a German lawyer for being a traitor, when he didn't do anything wrong." Wy puts in.

"Really?" She said, a bit put off.

"Hey! That was my boss's issue, but thanks to that, Germany recognized me as a nation!"

"Micro-nation." TRNC corrected.

"So what? One day I'll be a nation for sure!"

"Your house is an iron fort in the middle of the ocean that could barely fit a few hundred people." Wy puts in again.

"But we still have our way of governing."

'So he's the grandeur type…' Fern-Lui thought as she started to head back out to the party when Sealand grabbed her. "What's wrong?"

"I can't let you go out just yet!"

"Huh?"

"I need your help announcing my Valentine!"

There was a pausing silence as the atmosphere became a bit awkward. "Why…?"

"Because everyone pays attention to you!"

"That's no good reason!"

"Why not? Everyone likes you from the start, so you'll gain their attention like that." He said as he snapped his fingers.

She pulled her hand out of his grasp and glared at him. "I never asked anyone to like me right off the bat! I was just introducing myself!" There was a pausing moment of silence as the girl looked surprised and looked away. "Sorry, Sealand, but you're being a bit unfair. It is your Valentine."

Sealand blinked and placed his fists on his hips. "Hey, it's okay to be mad you know."

"Yeah, good lord knows he needs a talking to." Wy said.

"Arguing never ends in good results though…" She said. "It just leads to more arguments…"

"Hey now, what's with that face?" Seborga said. "We're not mad at you. In fact we're impressed. We figured you would be like Russia or Thailand, those two smile all the time. Then again North Italy also smiles a lot… And so does Spain…"

TRNC went up to the girl and lifted her chin up. "They're right, it's okay to show how you really feel. You don't have to put on a happy face all the time to make us happy. A lot of times we don't get along at all but we're still in this crazy group."

She seemed taken aback on this as she rubbed her hands to her eyes. "Thank you…"

"No problem! We're friends now! And this is what friends do for each other!" Sealand said.

She smiled contently as she nodded. "Yeah."

"Fern-Lui?" Germany said as he found the group and saw the huge Valentine. "Is this what you were working on?"

"Ja. It's Sealand's Valentine to everyone." She said.

"Yeah, but we're all done now!" Sealand said.

Germany wasn't sure what was going on, but he let it be as he held out his hand to the girl. "Romano and Spain just came in and wanted to give you something."

"Okay!" She said as she grabbed his hand. She looked at TRNC, who smiled and mouthed that he'll take care of this. She mouthed her thanks as she followed her father back to the party.

0o0o0o0

France regained consciousness and found himself in the bathtub and Germany's jacket over him. "Damn him… I'll show him the rage of France!" He said, only to trip and fell on his face. He cried out, fearing that he damaged something on his face.

Outside, some of the nations paused when they heard the anguished cry of France before going back to talking among themselves.

"Looks like France is awake." Germany said as he was talking to Japan, who Italy continued to talk like he didn't hear France, or that he was used to this that it never crossed his mind.

"Should we make sure he really is okay?" Fern-Lui asked as Germany shook his head.

"Nein, he'll be fine. He has been beaten down worse." He said when Australia came out of nowhere and saw the bandage on his nose.

"Crickey mate! Looks like you got beaten by a mamma kangaroo."

Germany, not expecting the nation, blinked as the nation's attention went to the girl.

"Hey there, Lil' Sheila, Happy Valentine's Day!" He said as he handed her a boomerang.

"Thank you, Uncle Aussie!"

"No worries! But I'll have to teach you a thing or two about that, or you'll end up hurting someone."

She nodded. "I never held a boomerang before, so I'll learn something new."

This made the Australian laugh. "And here I thought you knew everything."

She laughed as she shook her head. "Not everything!"

Then France walked out to see that everyone was enjoying themselves… without him… 'But I hosted this party… Did no one care?'

"Are you okay?"

He looked to see Monaco. "Why is everyone enjoying themselves when I was in the bathroom?"

"Because they knew you'd be fine and liked the break from your molesting." She said pointedly.

"But this is the day of l'amore! This is my day to shine!"

"Valentine's Day was invented in Italy, also a country of romance, but they don't feel assaulted by him." She said as she handed her gift to him. "But even so, you are my older brother, and therefore deserve something for your misery."

"Oh Monaco, you're so kind."

"But if you do what you did to Germany to anyone else again, I will tell you just how financially concerning you are at this point."

"What! Go back to being sweet!"

She humphed and adjusted her glasses. "It's your own fault that you can't control your hands or urges." She said as she walked away.

"What ever happened to my sweet nations I raised so dearly?"

"Ah! Amigo! There you are!" Spain called out as he went up to him. "This is a great party you got here. But I haven't seen you around. Were you being naughty somewhere?" He asked, a cheery smile never leaving his face.

"Ah, mon ami… I've been having the exact opposite."

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing is fair, that's what…"

"Well that's life for you!" He said cheerfully before he heard a knock on the door. "Oh, looks like you got more guests." He went to the door and opened it to reveal Prussia, who looked groomed up and hair slicked back much like Germany's earlier, and holding a medium sized white box. "Ah! Prussia!"

"Spain! My man!" He said as playfully punched the Spaniard's shoulder. "What's been going on?"

"Oh, the party is going great, but France isn't in his best moods."

"Eh?" Prussia said as he looked at the Frenchman. "Jeeze, France, the hell happened to you?"

France sighed. "God is being very cruel to me today…"

Prussia raised his brow as he looked back at Spain. "What's eating him?"

"I'm not sure. Oh! I was talking to Italy earlier and I saw your brother, with a bandage on his nose. Italy said he got that when France took your niece and slammed the door on Germany."

"Was? He okay?"

"Sì! Italy fixed him up good."

Prussia laughed, thinking something different. "I bet he did! Well! Where's mein Bruder now?"

"Last I saw them, they were talking to Japan."

"Okay, hey, have you seen Canada?"

"Who?"

"I have not seen him, but then again I was passed out for who knows how long." France said.

Prussia sighed. "Okay, looks like I have to look to see if he's here." He said as he looked around the room, only to spot Cuba and went over to him.

"Who's Canada?" Spain asked.

"He's my charge before England had to snatch him up like he did with America when those two were still so small."

"Oh? Have I met him?"

France sighed. "He's the one who gets mistaken for America."

Spain blinked. "The one with the white bear?"

"Oui …"

0o0o0o0

With Prussia, he went up to Cuba, where he saw the nation he was looking for. "Hey Canada!"

"Oh, Prussia." Canada said softly, but he was happy to see him all the same. "Did you make pancakes this morning?"

"I did! And they were awesome! But then they would be because the awesome me has been taught by an awesome teacher."

Canada blushed as he hid his face behind the bear. "It was nothing Prussia…"

Prussia grinned as he scratched the bears head. "Kumijiro, I was talking to your owner."

"Who?" The bear said, making the said owner groan and the Prussian laugh.

"Oh well! Thanks a ton!" He said as he saw the Canadian lift his head to look at him in the most bashful look he'd seen. "I got something for you." He said as he held out the box. "It's a thank you kind of thing."

Canada opened the box with his free hand and saw a red maple leaf shaped cake. "You baked this?"

"Yeah, you can have a bite of it if you want."

"Since you took the trouble to make it." He said as he tore a piece, put it in his mouth and he took on a surprised expression. "Maple flavored?"

"Not easy mind you." Prussia said with a blush. "In fact Bruder would kill me if he found out I used his kitchen to bake this."

"I love it! Thank you so much!"

Prussia smiled before looking cocky. "I would've gone with a heart for tradition's sake, but I'm not too big with the whole Valentine thing. But since the leaf on your flag is red, and hearts are red, and like I said it's more of a thank you than something intimate."

"I understand." Canada said with a smile. "Just the thought that you thought of me while making this makes me very happy."

Prussia blushed a bit, as he made his unique laugh. "Well! That just proves just how awesome I am compared to everyone else."

Canada giggled as he shook his head. "Whatever you say."

Prussia 'frowned'. "That's it?" He asked as he earned a giggle.

"I have no doubt that you are awesome, Prussia. That's why we're such good friends."

Prussia scratched his head as a pink hue dusted his cheeks. "So… what should I do with the cake? Since you look a bit busy." He eyed Cuba, who has his arms crossed and glaring at the albino.

"I don't know… Then again, it's not like no one will know why you made a cake with my symbol on it."

"Fern-Lui would. She's awesome that way." He said, making the other giggle again which made him smile.

"The weather is nice out." Canada said, making the Prussian smile.

"Lead the way." Prussia said, making the other laugh as he invited Cuba along and they went outside.

0o0o0o0

France, seeing this, grinned suggestively. "Oh ho… So you're after my little charge, hm?" He said to himself as Germany went up to him.

"Excuse me, France." Germany said, making the nation look at him and immediately locked onto his nose. "It's getting better." He said as he snapped his fingers to get the nation's attention away from his nose. "Have you seen Prussia? He said he would come around later."

"You worried about him?"

"He's mein Bruder, I know he would try to get into trouble if I don't check on him now and then."

France couldn't help but laugh. "Oh! I'm sorry Germany, but I had no idea you were practically a father before Fern-Lui came into the picture."

Germany sighed as he walked away. "I'll ask someone else…" He said as the Frenchman continued to laugh. But before he could ask anyone else, Sealand decided it was time to announce his Valentine to everyone, which was met with everyone staring and felt a bit embarrassed.

"And a big thanks to Germany for recognizing me as a nation!" Sealand said, making everyone look at the said nation, who was red like a tomato.

"Micro-nation!" Said the others who were there.

'If I didn't his boss wouldn't let go of that lawyer…' He thought as the youngest micro-nation was taken down from the small stage by Sweden, who patted him on the head, and everyone went back to what they were doing. He was glad that moment was done with before he turned only to jump back a bit to see that Russia was there.

"Hello Germany, seems you're very popular."

"Didn't ask for it, but then this is the day to get away with it."

"I guess…" Russia said with a look in his eyes that disagrees.

"Er… Have you seen Prussia? He said he was coming around later."

"Oh, yes, he's currently flirting with Canada."

Germany blinked as he shook his head. "If anything mein Bruder is, he's definitely not a flirt." He said as he asked where the Russian seen him and went to where the other pointed to. He found his brother and the other that looked like America, if not for the obnoxious laugh behind him. 'Must be Canada then.' He thought, remembering that his brother constantly mentioned the name before seeing the cake. 'Where the hell did he get a cake? He couldn't possibly made that himself.' He shook his head. 'At least he's not causing trouble.' He found Italy, talking to France, who tried to grab the Italian's rear. He grabbed the wrist and gave the Frenchman a warning look before letting go.

0o0o0o0

France, not liking how he was being treated so far, figured out an idea that was perfect for the occasion, and embarrass the pants off of the German nation.

He grabbed a champagne glass and a spoon and lightly tapped the glass with it, making the whole room turn in attention to him. "Everyone! Since everyone is here and this is Valentine's Day, I will now open up the dance floor to all dancers. And to make it a little fun, for every song change, the dancers will have to find a new dance partner! If I don't see people dancing I will be their partner!"

'We don't have a choice!' Many thought while Italy found it fun.

"Ve~ Germany will dance with me!"

'Damn you France…' He thought as he nodded. "Ja. I will."

TRNC blushed as he looked at the girl and remembered the masquerade dance back in Italy on New Year's Day. He was going to ask her to dance when Sealand beats her to it. 'Bastard!' He thought as he looked around. 'Where's Latvia when you need him? Wait, I haven't seen him when I arrived. Is he at home? Just great.' He thought as he saw her agree to one dance. 'Only one huh? Knowing France he would play every song he has before letting anyone go, or so drunk that everyone can just leave.' He nodded his head. 'The next dance is mine.'

Fern-Lui had to admit, the best part of the party is the dancing, and then again she would rather have anyone other than Sealand to be her dance partner. Thankfully though it was only a one dance thing and once the song was done, Sealand was pouting that it was over too soon, but she didn't complain and assured the other that there will be other chances, when she saw Latvia there and mentioned him.

Sealand looked back and immediately went up to the other and immediately asked what took the guy so long and all that.

"W-W-Well I-I-I w-w-was o-on my-my way w-w-when…" Latvia said, shaking horridly before a shadow appeared behind him before stepping out to reveal Belarus.

"Брат …" She said, making the Russian nation across the room freeze where he stood and fear was evident in his expression. "Where have you been?" She slowly went up to him, the other nations backing away from her, as she was wielding a dagger.

But then America stepped up and patted her on the shoulder. "Hey Belarus! Where you've been? You gotta try out these snacks!"

"Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Me." She seethed.

America just laughed as he wrapped an arm around her and they went up to Russia. "Russia and I were just talking about you! I asked him if you were coming and he said that he had a surprise for you but he had to not let you know about it until much later. France has it stored for safety, but now it got a bit damaged so now we're helping it fix it up."

Belarus seemed to calm down and looked at her brother. "Is that true?"

Russia nodded, playing along. "Yes dear sister. I know how you don't like gifts, but I wanted to make something special."

"But Brother… I only want you…"

"I know, but I wanted to something anyway. But it's not done yet. So you can just enjoy yourself while I finish up. I just came out to get something to eat." He said as he grabbed a cookie and munched on it.

Belarus nodded as she put her dagger away. "Okay." She said as she looked at everyone is paired up and seemed to be dancing before the interruption.

"Belru! Belru!" Taiwan called out suddenly as she went up to the woman. "Dance with me!"

"But we're both women!"

"I know! But if I don't dance with someone, then I would have to dance with France!" Taiwan said as she started to get teary.

Belarus sighed, not a huge fan of France either. "Fine…" She said as the Asian nation cheered and dragged her to the dance floor and the dancing continued.

"I do hope you have something in mind about the gift." Russia said, smiling innocently but his mind thought about ways to torture America if Belarus found out they flat out lied to her.

"Don't worry, dude, I know just what to do." America said as he looked around the room. "But first we one more helper." He found China and dragged him away before South Korea had a chance to glomp him. "Sorry! Need to borrow him for a while!"

"What the hell! Da ze!" South Korea said as he fumed.

"I don't know what you want with me, but I owe you."

"Good, cause we need your help in creating Russia's gift to Belarus."

"What! Is that what the commotion was about!"

0o0o0o0

Ukraine looked around the room, looking flustered. 'Oh! Everyone is paired up!' She thought, remembering what Russia warned about France.

"Oh! You don't have a partner either?"

Ukraine looked at Belgium. "You don't either?"

Belgium shook her head. "Nope, mostly because my brother is a bit over protective. But if I dance with you, he wouldn't mind. And you look like you need a partner too."

"I do." She said as they made it to the dance floor.

Germany felt completely awkward of the whole thing. The first dance he was dancing with Italy, and it wasn't that bad, being around with Italy for about a hundred plus years can do that. But now he was dancing with Romano, who 'accidently' stamped his foot on his and cursing that he was a lousy dancer just causing him to have a growing headache. He even didn't face the older Italian, knowing that it would also lead to something he didn't want to deal with.

Italy enjoyed the whole thing so far, but he wanted to dance with Germany again, and he knew Spain felt the same towards Romano as both looked to see the misery that the German was expressing.

England was the only one who ended up with no partner, contently sipping his tea. France had tried to get him to dance twice in the row, but he managed to avoid the first dance entirely. Now he was arguing with said Frenchman, which caused him to sacrifice a lot of good, hot tea by throwing said liquid on the other nation, who will cry and complain and go to the bathroom to make sure it didn't leave blisters on his face.

0o0o0o0

Latvia was dragged to dancing with Sealand and heard about what happened before his arrival. "Sealand…"

"What's up?" Sealand said happily.

"Do you like Fern-Lui?" He asked with a small blush.

"Well, I think she's okay for a girl. But after she got angry, I'm getting curious to what else makes her tick."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Latti, she knows practically every language, draws like she's Michelangelo, and gets along with everyone and thing. I'm trying to find out what she doesn't know or like."

"Wouldn't that be mean?"

"She can't be that perfect though!"

"I'm not saying she is. Even nations aren't perfect."

"Exactly! So why would a mortal girl be better than us?"

Latvia sighed, feeling bad for the girl now, but couldn't help but also know what else the girl doesn't know.

0o0o0o0

With Fern-Lui, she danced with TRNC and both laughed at something that either of them said.

"Hey, Fern-Lui?"

"Hm? What's up?"

"I was just wondering… You're good with art and you know a lot of languages, is there anything you don't like?"

She blinked before responding. "I guess it can't be helped after what I said earlier." She said with a bit of a smile. "And I trust you a lot. So, of course there are things I don't like. Science for being my number one thing."

"Science?"

She nodded. "I rather not go into that detail, because the last time I was taught about anything science related, I had nightmares for a month."

"A month? That's crazy."

"Not when my oncle was teaching."

"French?" He asked as she nodded. "I see..."

"He's not a bad teacher, but he just gets… too detailed…" She said as she seemed a little sad. "But then I do kinda miss him. He gets really funny when my aunt comes in and starts arguing." She then looked at the boy in the eye. "Why is it I can talk to you so easily about this?"

The boy blushed. "I did ask."

"You did. But how is it I can tell you these things that I haven't even told anyone else."

"If you don't want to tell me you could've just said you don't want to talk about it."

"That's the thing… I just feel so comfortable telling you these things."

He blushed as he noticed that the song was going on longer. "Long song."

"It only has about a minute left."

"How do you know?"

She blushed. "There's a similar song back in my world. My aunt hates it because it's too long, and my uncle loves to annoy her through dance. A lot of my family wondered how they stayed together."

"Isn't that a French thing?"

She shrugged. "How would I know? I was taught never to judge a person by their stereotypes."

TRNC laughed. "Sealand is right, you do sound like an old woman."

She stuck out her tongue. "If I'm an old woman, then you're an old man."

"Technically I am if I was human."

She laughed. "I'm glad though, I can talk to someone who isn't so hyper."

TRNC blushed as he shook his head as the song stopped. "Who are you going to dance with next?"

"Probably Wy, she seems fun. And you?"

"I don't know…" He admitted.

"How about Seborga? He seems to like Wy."

"He hopelessly has a crush on her, but he's waiting until she matures as a micro-nation."

"That's sweet of him." She said as they found the two and danced with them.

"Why do you say that?"

"Say what?"

"'That's so sweet', you used that a lot." He pointed out.

"Oh! Because mi mamma back home uses it a lot on mein vati. And I always wanted to do that too."

TRNC smiled at the simplicity of it as they found the other two micro-nations.

0o0o0o0

In the next song, it became a lot awkward for Germany as his brother claimed as his dance partner and were now tailing Cuba and Canada.

"Bruder, remind me again why we're doing this…?"

"Because I don't trust Cuba with Canada."

"You do realize you sound like a stalker."

"Don't compare me with France."

"Still, Cuba and Canada have been buddies long before you met with him." He said, remembering who Canada is when this whole thing started.

"I know that. That's why I want to make sure it remains that way."

Germany lifted a brow at this. He may not get relationships, but he seen enough to get two and two together. "Do you like Canada then?"

"Huh?" Prussia said as he looked at his younger, yet taller brother. "What makes you say that?"

'Bulls eye…' Germany thought as he rolled his eyes. "You're the one who dragged me into this, you tell me."

"I told you, it's to make sure Cuba doesn't do anything funny."

"In other words you're jealous."

"Am not!"

"Bruder, I'm not stupid." He said, seeing the signs easily now. "All those times you said you're going to France's house was a lie, wasn't it?"

"Technically it's not a lie."

"Right, Canada was once raised by France." He said, thanking that Canada did not inherit the perverse trait. "But you spent all that time with him. When did this even start anyway?"

Prussia blushed. "It was after when the wall was knocked down. That's all you need to know."

Germany was surprised to hear this. "You held a liking to him all this time?"

"You're one to talk."

"That's different."

"Is it?" Prussia said as he looked at his brother in the eye. "You haven't even tried to ask him out since that one time."

"I miscalculated that time and scared him. I don't want to repeat that again."

Prussia groaned. "That was then, West! Where the hell did your balls go?"

"Like you're one to talk." He said dully. "The Prussia I knew growing up had an unhealthy obsession with conquering vital regions."

"Hey, that was then, okay!" He said as he pointed at his brother before the song ended. "Excuse me while I dance with Cuba." He bolted to the said nation and there was immediate tension.

'Dancing with the enemy is always a dangerous tango.' Germany thought as he shook his head when Finland came up to him. "Finland?"

"Hey Germany! Hope you don't mind."

"Not really, I need to talk to someone with more sense."

Finland laughed. "Bad partners?"

"Only mein Bruder and Romano, Italy I'm okay with."

"Yeah, I noticed." He said as they started to dance.

"What about you?"

"Well, I danced with Sweden, and you know how that is."

"He does care about you." He said.

"I know, but sometimes he suddenly appears when I least expected and scares me a bit."

"Italy can tell you the same thing about me when we first met." Germany said as he looked around to find Sweden, dancing with Denmark, obviously hating every moment.

"But his expression hasn't really changed, and that scares me whenever I do look up at him."

"Again, Italy can tell you the same thing." He said as they continued their talk about things before the song ended.

0o0o0o0

"Dance with me." France asked, face red from constant hot tea thrown at his face, but now England was out of his precious tea, and he was tired of doing every method to drag him to the dance floor.

"No." England said as he glared at the Frenchman with his arms crossed and leaning up against the wall.

"Why not?" France whined.

"You sir, are an annoying, incompetent, perverse, always thinking with your vital region than with your own head, slimy frog. Why on earth would I dance with someone who may have contracted every sexual disease in all of mankind, but due to being a nation you are not fully affected by it!"

"I don't sleep with everything that moves." France said as he moved his hair back. "Sure I grope and molest, but sleeping is something else entirely."

"You're a sex addict." England said. "And don't you dare deny it."

"Why do you always have to act this way towards me?"

"Must I repeat myself?"

"We used to get along so well."

"I wouldn't call it getting along." He said with a glare.

"At least one dance?"

"No means no!"

0o0o0o0

Somewhere out on the dance floor, but not far from where the two were arguing, America and Japan were paired up for the song and overheard the argument.

"Looks like France won't let up anytime soon." America said with a bit of a chuckle. "This means we can dance to who we really want to the next few songs."

"Sounds okay, but I rather not dance anymore."

"Getting tired of it?"

"I'm just not used to this kind of thing…"

America laughed a bit and shook his head. "Seriously, Japan? Your house has been exposed to a lot of things, surely you're used to this by now."

"I'm not exactry a young country, Amerika-san."

"You're back hurting again?"

Japan sighed. "No, it isn't. By the way, how did you and Chugoku-san do for Roshia-san's gift to Beraushi-san?"

"I'll tell you one thing, I'm glad I won't suffer either of their wraths." America said as he looked over to see Russia dancing with Belarus, in a new ice blue dress. "It's a good thing China carries around extra silk and good with making dresses. Otherwise Russia would be in deep and he will definitely come after me for putting him there. But then it's his own fault for lying to her in the first place…" He said with a pout, making the Japanese nation giggle.

"You courd've just ret Roshia-san have it though." Japan said with a bit of a smile. "But you are very kind in herping him anyway."

America sighed. "That kind of thing will be the death of me one of these days." He said as he looked over to see the mentioned two nations dancing together, and will be for the remaining time of the party.

"How are you on your economy?"

"Dude! We're not in a conference!" America said with a laugh as the song ended. "That was fun."

"It was. Arigatou for dancing with me."

"Back at cha." He said as he looked at the two still arguing nations. "If you dance with England, I'll take France."

"Are you sure?"

"England has to dance out here at least once, right?" He said as they went over to the two and grabbed France. "Come on! The host hasn't danced with the Hero yet!" He said as he successfully dragged the Frenchman away from the Englishman.

"Thank the Lord." England said as he saw Japan come up to him. "Oh, Japan, I haven't talked to you yet have I?"

"No, I was busy tarking to Itaria-kun."

"Right, right. He does like to talk up a storm." He said as he saw the Japanese nation held out his hand. "Japan?"

"Amerika-san said you needed to dance at reast once. That's why he vorunteered to dance with Furansu-san."

England sighed and grinned a bit. "He may be a git, but he is raised well." He said as he accepted the offer and danced with Japan.

0o0o0o0

"America! What are you doing?" France said as he was, more or less, manhandled to the dance floor. "If you weren't paying attention, I was having an argument with that stubborn England!"

"The reason why I dragged you out here." America said. "We're here, switching partners to avoid dancing with you, and there you were arguing with England, who is the least likely to dance with you, and more likely to argue with you until the party is over. Which, let's face it. The party is over when you are in a drunken coma, or we just can't find you anywhere in your own house."

France sighed as he allowed himself to dance with the American.

"Why were you so intent on dancing with England anyway? Everyone here is afraid you would pick them."

"Well… the main point was to embarrass Germany for what he did earlier."

"You mean when you practically broke his nose after stealing his kid away from him. Oh yeah, you have every right to get payback at him." He said.

"Don't be sarcastic with me, young man." He said waving an accused finger at him. "I was once great you know!"

"Sure, tell that to Google and Yahoo who agree that you haven't had one military victory in history."

'Smart mouth brat.' France thought as he sighed. "Now I know how England feels when he talks to you."

"You're just tired and cranky from being dejected to dance and having tea being thrown at you." America said cheerfully as the song ended. "And switch!" He said as he handed France to Prussia, who laughed and made a joke of the arrangement.

0o0o0o0

"So you are reaving?" Japan asked England as he grabbed his coat and hat.

"Yes, Japan, I enjoyed dancing with you, but I'm not much into dancing, and that frog will be after me again if he spots me."

"I understand."

"Thank you Japan, and tell America I appreciate his thoughtfulness. He rarely does that as you well know."

"Of course." Japan said as he watched England walk out of the door and turned to see Fern-Lui come up. "Herro, Rui-chan, what brings you here?"

"I'm just going to the bathroom." She said as she entered the nearest bathroom.

0o0o0o0

Once in she sighed and went up to the sink to wash her face. She then looked up to see her reflection, droplets going down her face as she looked sad and guilty. She was surprised to see this as she shook her head. "Why are you sad for, silly Fern-Lui." She said to herself as she found a hand towel to dry her face. "It's not like you asked for this, and they can focus on that until they're done." She forced herself to laugh, but then became silent as she looked at herself in the mirror once more. "How long can I do this though?" She felt her face and smiled a bit. "I'm looking more like Mamma now… Just like Vati said…" Tears came down, but she immediately rubbed her eyes.

"No, no, don't feel sad. I can't be sad because everyone here is happy. I don't have any reason to be sad." But the tears continued to come out. "I'm… happy… aren't I?"

Then a knock was heard, making her jump. "Ja?"

"Oh, there you are." Hungary said. "Everything okay sweetie?"

"Yes, Néni Magyarországon. Just drank too much punch." She said. "I'm almost done."

"Take your time sweetie."

She waited until she couldn't hear the footsteps outside and looked at the mirror once more. Her eyes were starting to become red and sighed as she washed her face once more before walking out to see Canada, taking a bite of a cookie before noticing her.

"Oh, hello Fern-Lui, how are you?" He said quietly.

"I'm okay, a bit tired but not so much to get out."

"Did you get good dance partners?"

"I did. You?"

And they struck up a simple conversation before France announced that the party was over, causing some confusion and everyone didn't need to hear it the second time as they headed out of the house.

0o0o0o0

"Ve~ That was so much fun!" Italy said happily.

"A bit too long for my liking." Germany said, glad that it was over without anything mentally damaging.

"Ah~ It wasn't that bad, West." Prussia said with a laugh, messing up his combed back hair. "I should know, because the awesome me was there."

Germany rolled his eyes as he focused on the road.

Fern-Lui smiled at her Onkel's continuous speech about how awesome he was, making her mamma laugh a bit and she can see a slight grin in her vati's profile. She looked at the small basket of the chocolate strawberries that TRNC gave her and her smile faded so that it was barely there.

"_Happy Valentine's day everyone!" Her Mamma called out, holding up the handmade valentines to all the women there._

"_Arigato." Said her Obasan, who looked like a softer, female version of Japan as she looked at her valentine, with a slight blush on her face._

"_Ah! I wish our husbands can come back already!" Said her Aunt, who looked like a long haired, female version of Romano. "Damnit! Where the hell is he? He said he would be here!"_

"_Ve… Sister, you know that it's not that easy…" Her mamma said a bit sadly. _

_The atmosphere was a bit down as the other women were fingering their wedding rings on their left hand._

"_Oh Ladies!"_

_All heads turned to see a man that looked exactly like France, followed by the other men behind him, all holding a small basket in their hands._

"_Lovi~!" Called out a man that looked exactly like Spain as he ran up to her Auntie, who looked like a tomato and sputtering insults to the man, but she hugged him as he petted her dark brown wavy hair._

_She then saw her vati and she and her mamma ran up to him, happy to see him._

"_It's so good to see all of you." He said as he held them before giving the basket, which was slightly larger than the other baskets, to the two. "Happy Valentines… All of us went through a lot of trouble finding them."_

_She, her mamma, and all of the other women looked into the basket to see chocolate covered strawberries._

"_Ve! How did you find them?"_

"_The strawberries were somewhat easy to get, especially when we were in America." Her vati explained. "But we had to keep them fresh in a cooler until we got to Switzerland for the chocolate factory, which surprisingly still works." He chuckled. "And, well, there they are."_

"_Ve~ My brave and wonderful husband!" Her mamma said as tears were at the corner of her eyes as she went up to kiss her vati, which both were overdue after being apart so long. _

_She loved this day so much because she gets to see everyone so happy as everyone renewed that spark that made them crazy for each other in the first place. She took her first piece and took a bite of it, which tasted so sweet it made her feel like floating._

She took a bite of the strawberry that TRNC gave her and, although it was sweet, the memory made it slightly bitter sweet.

"Those look good." Her Onkel said as he looked at her basket.

"TRNC gave them to me." She said as she offered one to him. "Here, try one."

"Aren't you awesome." He said as he took up the offer and took a bite. "Not bad." He said as he seemed to be thinking.

She giggled as she looked to her parents and asked them if they would like one as well.

"Ve~ Thank you." Italy said as he grabbed two and offered one to Germany.

"Italy, I'm driving."

"Say 'aahh'."

"Huh?" Germany said with a blush.

"Say 'aahh'." Italy pleaded, making the blond German blush more as he could just picture the puppy pout the other was giving him.

Germany complied as he felt the chocolate covered fruit enter his mouth, bit down, and he would've sworn Italy brushed his fingers across his lips as he closed down. 'This is Italy. Pure, innocent, useless Italy. There's no way he's teasing me.' He thought as he chewed on the treat.

"Ve~ Isn't it good?"

After he swallowed, he replied that it was good.

Fern-Lui smiled as she could clearly see how red her vati is while her Onkel was keeping himself from laughing. 'It's not like home, but…' She looked at her mamma to see the same look he has that's very similar to her real mamma when she looks at her real vati when he's not looking. 'This is just as good.' She thought as she giggled.

"What's so funny?" Her Onkel asked with a grin on his face.

"I was just remembering something mi mamma would do to mein vati on Valentines." She said, not really lying. She looked down to see one more of the chocolate covered fruit and smiled. 'As long as I don't forget the good things, then, maybe one day…' She looked to see that her Onkel and Vati were in some kind of brotherly argument. 'One day, they would be together like my family.' She took a bite, finding the taste sweeter this time and thought of TRNC. She smiled and blushed happily. 'I better thank him the next time I meet him.' With that she fell asleep, dreaming of that Valentine's with her family.

* * *

Translations:

(1) You're a mean uncle - French

* * *

And that's all I have for you guys today. Now I have to focus on reality on my end for a while, so the chapters after this won't be up for some time. I don't know how long this fic will go to tell you the truth.

And because I'm a curious kitty, I was wondering what theories you have about Fern-Lui up to this point, what pairings (besides GerIta) did you notice I put in, and what is your favorite part/line in the fic so far. I got some ideas of what the ending would be like, and it's not pretty... I think I said too much. Anyway! Enjoy the little things in life as much as you can and don't forget to look around when you have the moment to yourself, because you'll never know what you'll find.


	17. Chapter 17

Guess who's back! Okay that was a little dumb, but anyway. I'm back with a few new chapters for you guys and sorry for the wait but I do have a life to be put in order (and I still need to put somethings in order...) And I was on a bit of a writer's block break of not only this fic but others as well. Anyway... I was thinking what I should do from the last chapter's point and I do plan on giving Fern-Lui some dark background and then it birthed to something from a picture I drew as a final in an art class in college. What that is is still unclear because I'm working on the building suspition that surrounds my little OOC.

Also! I remember one of my reviewers asking how long this will be, chapter wise, and at first I didn't have any plans in mind, but then when I was doing a brain storm vacation (right... vacation...), and I realized that this kind of story would be a trilogy of some sort, this being the first part of the triolgy (obviously!) So! My goal for this one is to reach 25 chapters before going to the second of the series.

'Wait... Why are you making it into a triolgy?'

Well, like I said I was doing a brain storm thing and I realized that the second part of the story is something entirely different, time wise, but still connected to this one. I decided that this one is mainly getting to know my OOC as pieces of her is revealed in her memories and nightmares before some crazy thing happens that involves one of the nations entire well being in jepordy. And I think I said too much there.

So... there you have it, if you still have some kind of question, feel free to review or PM me, either way works for me. Other than that, just enjoy these chapters.

Oh! Before I forget, I recently heard about the Eurovision thing, but by the time I heard about it, it passed, can anyone tell me how that went from beginning to end? I tried to look up on the site, but that didn't help, and then I tried YouTube, which I got a chance to hear the music, but the whole placement is confusing me. If you couldn't answer, that's okay, but it would be helpful for the next chapter after this set of them.

And another thing... The end of the world didn't happen! I swear I'm not going to believe in that whole "Judgement Day" thing... Seriously! How many times have there been perdictions of this? The old guy doesn't know what he's talking about!

Okay that rant is over with, enjoy!

* * *

_Chapter 17: Lessons, Lessons_

_'She opened her eyes to see nothing. Nothing but snow with some dead looking trees surrounding her. Then snowflakes started to fall and she looked at the few she was able to catch in her dark green mitten covered hands. She looked closely to see the designs on the snowflakes. She then gasped when the snowflakes became a red, thick liquid as it soaked into the mittens. She heard something that sounded like a twig being snapped to her side as she looked to see an opening that wasn't there before. She suddenly felt fear as she walked cautiously to the edge of the snow and looked down to see…'_

**_"Remember now?"_**

0o0o0o0o0

Fern-Lui shot up from her bed, startling Gino and Lutz as the two cats looked up at her as she breathed deeply to calm herself down. She then rubbed her eyes before taking another deep breath before looking at the two cats, who seemed to be worried about her. "Morning." She said as she petted the two. "I'm okay. It's just a bad dream." She said with a smile that didn't seem right.

Gino cuddled up to her as she continued to pet him, Lutz watching and seem to study the girl as the false smile turned to that of indifferent and her eyes seemed faraway and fearful.

And as if on cue, Italy entered the room, fully dressed and greeted the girl happily before seeing that she hasn't gotten out of bed. "Ve? What's wrong?" He said as he petted the girl's hair, noting how silky and soft it is.

"Just a bad dream, Mamma Italia…" She said with a small smile.

"Ve~ You've been having nightmares for some time now." He said, looking concerned. "Are you okay?" He added thinking. 'This is the fifth time this month...'

"Si, I'm fine." She said as she got out of bed. "I'll be down in a minute, okay?"

Italy nodded. "Okay." He said as he got up. "Don't forget what today is."

"I haven't forgotten." She said as he left the room and she pulled out a white, long sleeved dress shirt and a red plaid school jumper, puts in the clips in her hair, puts on long white stockings and black penny loafers before grabbing a brown bag and ran to the kitchen, where Germany was making breakfast.

Germany wore the iron pressed grey slacks, a white, long sleeve dress shirt, which the sleeves were rolled up as he cooked and was wearing a pink apron as he cooked. Italy was dressed formally as well, but it was a lot nicer in a blue color, definitely Italian made.

She took a seat as the plates were set down in front of her and Italy, and she waited as Germany took off the apron, hanged it on a hook, and sat down with his own plate before she ate hers.

"Ve~ Who's teaching, Germany? I forgot."

"Spain's teaching her today."

"Ve, that'll be fun. What's Spain going to do?"

"From our talk yesterday, I do believe he's teaching her dance, guitar, and Romano will be there to teach her football."

"Ve~ Sounds like a lot of fun!" Italy said as he finished his plate.

"Italy, are you okay picking her up around five? My boss wants me to stay a few hours longer to look over some papers for any defects."

"Not a problem!" Italy said cheerfully. "I have to go to the store to pick some things up anyway."

Germany sighed. "Make sure you get everything that's written on the list this time." He said as he gathered the empty plates, placed them in the sink to be dealt with later, grabbed his jacket and the three made it out to Germany's car and headed to Spain's house.

0o0o0o0

"¡Hola! Welcome to my house!" Spain called out happily as the girl went up to him and he was more than happy to dote and gush over her before Germany brought him back to reality. "Oh right! Romano won't be here until one, so I'll make her some lunch after her dance lesson."

Germany nodded as he pointed to Italy. "Italy will, hopefully, come by to pick her up around five." He looked at Spain. "If there's anything that needs to bring to our attention, don't hesitate to call either of us."

"Right o!" Spain said with a cheerful smile.

Germany nodded as he looked at his adopted daughter. "You be good now and listen to Spain."

"Ich werde."(1) She said as they parted and she watched both her parents drive off, Italy hanging out of the car while Germany held him back by the belt to keep him from falling out of the car. She giggled until she couldn't see them anymore before Spain mentioned to follow him.

"Alright now, since this is your first time in my house, the first thing in order is a tour." He said.

She nodded as she looked at the house. It was indeed large, almost like a castle, and followed him through a lot of hallways to rooms and knowing where the bathrooms are, which he told her funny tales about Romano's accidents because he couldn't find the bathrooms, even blaming the squirrels when he wets his bed.

"Okay! Now that you know my place, let's get started on your guitar lessons." He said as he led them to his garden, where there was a fountain and two guitars there, one large and the other child sized.

Both picked up their guitars and they started on the basics before trying out one song using the basics. They worked on the guitar for two hours before he told her to put the guitar aside and taught her some steps at a time for the dancing part of the lesson.

Around noon, Romano came over and they made lunch together.

Afterwards, Romano helped with the dance lesson by doing a few moves and she had to copy him, being corrected now and then. Then it was siesta, which all three rested under the comfortable shade of the tree.

After that, Spain was in the position as goalie as Romano went over drills about football. She wore a plain white shirt and black shorts and wore the shoes used for football as she was taught through the drills before putting them into practice. She liked the game as she tried to get the ball pass Spain and into the goal. Soon it was getting late and Spain allowed the girl to wash up before Italy, only a half hour late, came by to pick her up.

"Ve~ How was your lessons today?"

"It was a lot of fun, but I wasn't able to get a goal in during the football lesson."

Italy smiled. "You will one day, it takes a lot of skill and speed to get it. And because you're half Italian you'll get it soon, and Germany's sports teams aren't bad either, so you'll do great with a lot of practice. But the main thing is to have fun playing, otherwise there would be fights going on and everyone will be sour and not happy."

She giggled as they headed home, made dinner, greeted Germany home, and talked about their day.

0o0o0o0

The next morning, Italy drove the girl to Japan's temporary house south of his home, which nearly gave the Japanese nation a heart attack when Italy screeched to a halt in front of the house.

"Hello Nihon-ojisan, how are you feeling?" She asked seeing that the other was slightly pale due to what happened just north of the island.

"Herro, Rui-chan. I'm feering a rittre bit better… Amerika-san and his men are being a great herp."

"Where's he now? Wasn't he staying with you?"

"He has to go back home to tark to his boss about the situation in Ribiya-san's home."

"Oh yeah… I bet both aren't getting along, huh?"

"Not so much."

"Ve~ Japan, are you going to be okay? Germany and I understand if you're not up to teaching her…"

"Iie, I can handre it. I promised to teach her on this day, so I wirr." He said, looking a bit determined.

"Okay, ve~ But if you're feeling tired or something is wrong that you don't want her to get involved with, let me or Germany know, okay?"

"Hai." He said as he and the girl waved the Italian man off before he looked down at the girl. "Werr then… Sharr we get started?" He asked, which the girl was more than happy to start.

Japan handed her a plain, light blue kimono and helped her change into it and started the lesson by doing the tea making ceremony, which the girl had no problems with since she'd done this many times with her obasan. Then he handed her a fan and showed her how to move like a geisha.

"Nihon-ojisan, how do you know how a geisha moves?" She asked.

"There is a rare case where men with very femare rike faciar features can purr off rooking rike a geisha."

"Were you one of them?"

"You missed a step."

"Wha!" She exclaimed as he held in his chuckle as they started over again as he told her that the way of a geisha is to be a living, moving art form.

Then they headed outside where he brought out two bamboo kendo training swords and did a few warm up drills before lunch. After they ate, they meditated before she fell asleep for her siesta, which Japan has no problems with because one, he was used to seeing Italy do the same thing, and second he was able to catch his breath and took the medication that America gave him for the radiation he has, and some pain killers caused by the earthquakes. It didn't really help, being a nation, but to the unnamed human part of him it helped eased the pain just slightly.

After her siesta, they went over some striking basics for kendo before he allowed her to try a few on him, which he expertly blocked easily. This went on until Germany came and found them still practicing and they parted to head back home.

"Thank you Japan. Are you sure you're doing okay?"

"Of course. Teaching has provided a distraction and it's very nice to see someone so young so interested in traditionar teachings. Makes me feer young a bit."

Germany smiled a bit as both men looked at the girl, playing with Pochi and Tama as she waited for the German nation to mention about leaving. "We better head back then. Who knows what Italy is up to." He said, making Japan chuckle a bit.

0o0o0o0

The next day was France's house, which Germany gave her a pager, showed it how it worked, and told her to only eat her lunch that Italy made for her. He even threatened France if he tried anything to his little girl that would scar her for life that he will humanly harm him.

France sworn he wouldn't do such a thing and Germany left with a last warning to the girl and reluctantly left to work.

'Why did France have to have the day off today?' He thought as he looked back until he couldn't see France's house.

France showed her around, avoiding the 'special' rooms, and led them to the kitchen where he taught her how to cook a five star French cuisine fit for a king.

She enjoyed the cooking quite a lot, and even secretly liked smacking her oncle's hands when he tried to do something, or pull out the pager on him to back off.

'I swear, it's like I'm dealing with my Oncle all over again.' She thought before having a reminiscing moment of a man teaching her how to make a crossant. She can easily see the flour in the nicely well managed blond hair tied back in a low pony tail, some batter onto the fair skin with a bit of a growing beard on his chin and partly up on his jaw. Looking at France now, she can clearly see the man she was just remembering not a second ago, eyes focused onto the thickening batter in the bowl in his arm and a wooden spoon in his hand.

When siesta came around, she devised a quick alarm thing to warn her when France is getting close to her as she slept, which was a waste as he relaxed with a glass of wine, just watching her sleep.

'She looks so much like Italy when she sleeps.' He thought with a content grin. 'Now if only she were my little girl… or better yet a nation that I can claim as my property.' He chuckled, but he saw the look of pain on her once peaceful slumbering face. 'Italy did say she would have nightmares periodically.' He looked concerned and sad. 'England explained that it has to do with whatever happened before coming here. Should it be confronted then? It can't be healthy for a child. But then again, Prussia mentioned a talk with Germany about confronting. Surely a serious matter needs to be confronted immediately, shouldn't it?' He finished his wine as he continued to think whether or not asking her about her family in the other world would be the right thing to do. 'This family thing is hard.' He realized. 'All this worrying is going to make me look thirty years old human wise.'

After waking up early from her siesta, they moved onto making desserts until Italy's car parked out in front of France's house with a loud screech of the brakes from the speed, which Germany slightly stumbled out of the passenger side, picked up his daughter, giving a hasty 'thank you for watching her' and ordered Italy to take the passenger seat and drove out of the drive, after a 'Why Germany? I can get to your house faster,' and a 'No, Italy, last time I allowed you to do that I had to bail you out on so many accounts due to your speeding!'

'Such an overprotective father…' France thought amusingly and added, 'and husband.' as he went back inside.

0o0o0o0

The next day Germany drove up to Russia's house, which both he and the girl were donned with heavy winter clothing as Russia was outside, waiting for them.

"I was afraid you might've been snowed in on the way here." Russia said as he was holding a shovel.

"Sorry…" Germany said as the girl got out and greeted the nation warmly, which seems to put him in a good mood, if he wasn't already. "I'll be by sometime around five to pick her up." He said as the Russian nodded.

"Okay, and if you're not here by seven, then I will be nice and call out for some help in searching for you if you get trapped."

"Danke…" He said as the girl told him to have a good day and to see him later, while he in turn told her to mind her manners and not cause any trouble during her lessons before leaving.

Russia's lessons were only ballet for her as he has an outfit ready for her as she changed and started the lesson with some warms ups as he told her how she should position herself, helped her with some examples of how she should move before letting her go on her own and watch as she makes a few mistakes before stopping for lunch and siesta.

Germany did have difficulty getting to Russia's house later, but he made it and picked her up, thanking Russia as he waved to them.

"I'll see you on my next day off, da?"

"Da!" She said as she waved. "Thank you for teaching me ballet!"

"Keep practicing, Немного Подсолнечника." (2)

"I will!" She said before they headed back to Germany's house for dinner.

0o0o0o0

Next was Finland, Sweden, and Sealand as Finland taught her math and science, her two worst subjects as Sealand suffered along with her while Sweden co-worked with the lesson, which both children didn't mind the intimidating look that would catch Finland off guard and scared for a moment.

Next was Norway as he didn't really have a lesson planned, but she was introduced to the forest spirits and had a field day, learning a bit about Vikings from Norway now and then.

Then it was Denmark's turn, which mostly consisted of his own history as they walked around the town where his house was located.

Then it was Germany's turn to teach his daughter something. He started with some morning drills, which became fun when his dogs wanted in, and most of the snow has melted away, leaving a lush, new green grass to come up. After that he went to teach her math, which was close to pre-algebra, but still very basic for an eight year old, who is improving thanks to Finland and Sweden.

After her siesta, he figured she had done enough math and helped her practice her football form and taught her some extra moves to use until Italy came home and made dinner.

When it came to be America's turn, because they have to use normal air travel with his case, she had to take the flight, alone, and spend a few days with him before going back the same way. Needless to say they had to plan something different for the American's lessons, which were history, math, science, and, in spite of Germany's request to avoid it, hip-hop dancing.

It didn't help that he learned that she had taken a liking to the game _Just Dance_, which Prussia was more than happy to reveal that he just got the game the other day, and now he has a dancing partner to share.

Then Canada came over to visit, after much convincing (though it was actually begging) from Prussia to let the nation stay and taught the girl how to make pancakes, his history, and helped in her science studies, which were nature related at the most.

When it came to Italy's turn, he brought canvases and he wanted to advance his adoptive daughter's artistic abilities, and what better place to do so in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance.

Then it was finally England's turn.

0o0o0o0

"Remember what I told you." Italy said as it was his turn to drop her off.

"Don't eat Uncle England's food. I know." She said happily as Italy headed off to work as she and England headed inside his house.

"Okay, Little Lady. Since I'm your instructor for today, I'll be teaching you something that's related to science."

"Related to science?" She asked, not really understanding as she was lead to a room that has furniture moved towards the walls and there was a chalk drawing of a circle and odd symbols drawn within the circle. "What's this?"

"A magic circle. This one is for training purposes only."

"You're teaching me magic?"

"Just the basics. We'll start briefly with the history of magic and I'll help you unlock the flow within you so you can perform one of the few basics of magic."

"Will it hurt?"

"No dear, far from it."

She didn't seem too sure, but at the same time was a bit excited to learn magic and listened to the Englishman intently.

After the history lesson, he told her to stand in the center of the drawn circle, being mindful of not scuffing the lines he drawn and chanted a spell that allowed her to glow.

She closed her eyes, a bit fearful of what would happen, not seeing the shocked expression of the Englishman's face.

'Good Lord in Heaven… What is that?' He thought as he saw black, transparent smoke going around her like a snake and wondered why the girl has that. 'Was she casted already? Looks more like a curse by the looks of it…' He thought, studying the pattern. 'Should I really open her inner flow?' He debated himself as he continued with the spell, finishing the preparation for her first magic casing lesson. 'It didn't hinder the opening of the flow, but I have to look into this.' He thought as he taught her the basic Latin words that will help her light a candle by blowing on the wick. 'Looks like whatever it was isn't harming her...'

She was doing well for her first lesson, she even managed to change a flower's color by blowing on it.

England got a little curious as he took out a book that was a level higher than the ones he's teaching her to learn and asked her to pick one form of magic she would like to learn for extra practice.

She looked through the book and found one that seemed interesting to her. "Uncle England, what's this spell?"

He looked over and read over what the spell is about. "It's a spell to put your thoughts into something and send that thought and it will not stop until it reaches to the one you were thinking of."

"Meaning…"

"Say you write a letter to… Spain, and you put every thought of him into the letter. Then, once you're done with that letter, recite the spell onto it and it will gain a life of its own and will not stop until it reaches Spain."

"Oh! I see!"

"Well… I haven't put that spell into good use so far. So I don't highly recommend it."

"But you said any spell in this book, and I want to practice this spell."

"However-"

"Please Uncle United Kingdom? Pretty, pretty please?" She said as she unleashed her puppy eyes, courtesy of her mamma.

"Oh bullocks! Okay! Let me write it down for you." He said, a huge sucker for the puppy eyes.

"Yay! Thank you!" She cheered as she yawned. "Siesta's coming up…"

"Let me tuck you in then." He said as he picked her up, bridal style, and carried her up to one of the guest rooms when she was already asleep, and tucked her in. "Well now… since she's out for the moment, I better get that spell copied and start on that tea."

0o0o0o0

An hour into the siesta, she was having the nightmare again.

_'She walked towards the edge of the opening, looking down to see a body, a pool of blood staining the pure white snow. The source of the blood was at the body's head, covered by a hood, but she can see a few strands of blond hair._

_"…Nien…" She whispered as she crawled down the icy rocks before slipping on one of the rocks and fell onto the snow next to the corpse. "Nien." She said as she placed her hands onto the body's shoulders and turned it over.'_

"Fern-Lui!"

She woke up and saw England, looking panicked and concerned before sighing in slight relief.

"Good Lord child… Don't scare me like that."

She sat up and noticed that her clothes stuck onto her due to sweat and felt her eyes were wet from possibly crying. "I'm sorry…"

England waved it off. "It was only a bad nightmare."

"But it scared you too."

England sighed. "You were shouting 'no' in German. It sounded like you were being attacked or something."

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be. It's just a bad dream."

"Yeah…" She said, but not sounding too sure.

"Well, I better get your clothes cleaned up. Can't have you going home in such a mess."

"Do you have anything I can use for a while?"

He grabbed a large t-shirt as she changed, handed her other clothes to the man and, while waiting for her clothes to be washed and dried, had tea with the British man and started to practice a bit with her self-assigned spell.

Once her clothes were dried, she changed into them just in time for Germany to pick her up.

0o0o0o0

Once the father and daughter left the Britain's home, the nation looked troubled as a fairy appeared next to him.

"Is something wrong?" Asked the fairy.

"You've sensed it as well, haven't you?" He said.

"Well… yes… But she's so innocent…"

He closed the door and leaned up against it, a troubled look on his face. "That she is. But when I was releasing her inner strength to make magic training easier… that energy… I remember sensing that years ago… But this was stronger…"

"Could it be one of your dark spells you were experimenting back in that war?" Said another fairy.

"If that was the case… Then the reason why she's here…" He bit his thumb. "I have to find out those spells. I should have them stored somewhere here…" He then started his night long search of the books that he banned as forbidden to himself.

* * *

Translations:

(1) I will - German

(2) Little Sunflower - Russian

Wait... what! Did Cupid add something to the plot? Well, kinda, but it has been my idea to go in depth with her. And because I'm a curious kitty (though I'm more of a dog person), what kind of theories do you have from this? And also, something is really screwy with the reviewing replies from my e-mail. So if I get your comments/theories from my e-mail and I want to reply to them, I would have to go back to this site, find the reivew and reply it from there or PM your response. Just figured I let you guys know about that, though you probably care less. Well! I hope this is satisfactory and I'll see you guys later!


	18. Chapter 18

_Chapter 18: Discussions During Meetings_

Fern-Lui woke up one morning and looked at the desk calendar that Austria gave her so that she would have some sense of organization when she starts the day. Prussia laughed at the idea of it, but she loved it. She looked to see that she has been in this world for six months, and next month would be May, her birthday was coming up fast.

Her nightmares stopped after leaving England's home that one time, which was strange as she expected to have it becoming worse that night when she was tucked in. But instead she had a pleasant dream with her family, which made her feel homesick but it was pleasant nonetheless.

0o0o0o0

She attended the meetings, and met some of the nation's bosses, who have heard about her through Germany's and Italy's bosses. Needless to say it was an awkward affair, but it was kind for America's boss to bring his children along so she has someone other than the children-like nations to play with, since they're responsible for their own homes as well. She had fun with them and the other children that some of the bosses bring with as well, but it was still an awkward affair with her playing with normal children around or a bit older than her. She figured it was because she spent too much time with the nations.

Though, it was difficult to answer some questions when it comes to how the nations are treating her. She would answer truthfully and honestly that she was treated no differently than any child being cared for by loving parents. Granted she has two fathers, one not minding at the least to being called Mamma, and that she loves all the nations like a big crazy family. This was enough for the normal people who asked her these questions when they come by. She liked some of the bosses, others she was slightly uncomfortable with but respectfully avoids her after knowing that she was being cared for by the nations, mainly Germany and Italy.

The European Union meetings were usually pretty interesting to her, since it mostly has to do with the trades and making sure no fights break out, which they like to avoid at all costs if it ever got out of hand. It might've helped that she was there and the bosses were present as well. She didn't know, all she knew that the nations would have a spat here and there, but nothing too serious, it was when the bosses look her way did she started to think that her presence could possibly be helping or hindering the important meeting.

Japan made himself known to a few meetings, but wasn't able to stay long. America was kept busy as he helped the other to and from meetings upon request, which was a bit unnerving to the small Asian nation, but he didn't want to waste his strength worrying about it.

When news of Bin Laden's death was announced in early May, America was off the walls happy to hear the news. Japan, unfortunately got the most of the American's excitement of the news as he was carried around like a doll and was moved around in a childish dance before the American settled down when the reality of the rebel forces may be taking revenge for the death, putting him into an exhausted heap as he and Pakistan were not on good terms, once again.

Then of course when there was a G8 meeting, she would end up finding TRNC, who really is Northern Cyprus but likes to continue to be called TRNC, who had been hanging around during the meetings and they would play a game or two, or talk about things.

0o0o0o0

She liked the de facto state personification. He wasn't really a nation by any standards, but he doesn't mind. He likes his brother all the same, even though Greece is a pain sometimes, but lately the arguing is subsided a bit between Turkey and Greece.

"So, Fern-Lui…" He started to say, gaining her attention, but he looked a bit troubled about asking. "Do you like playing with the bosses kids when they bring them over?"

They were outside of the building that the meeting was being held and was near by the garden that they were playing sometime before they got tired.

She blinked and looked thoughtful. "Well, I wouldn't say I dislike it, but I guess it's a bit awkward… I know it shouldn't because they're like me… You know… 'normal'," She said with some air quotes that both America and Prussia uses to be a bit sarcastic, "but… I don't know… I guess I'm just used to this. We can talk about what's going on in different houses without sounding like I'm off of my rocker, or however Uncle America puts it."

TRNC chuckled at the figure of speech, but then looked serious. "You know you have to leave us one day, right?"

"Huh?"

"If your family doesn't pick you up from this world, you'll grow up here and soon leave us. You know that right?"

She nodded, knowing as much as anyone here that the nations don't age like normal people do. America isn't even close to two hundred years old while the oldest one she knows is China, yet looks as if he's in his mid-twenties, possibly younger. She, as a human being, will age and grow and will one day die while the others continue to live on. "I know... I know it's a risk for Germany and Italy to take me in, knowing that I'll change and they won't. But I rather grow up surrounded by nations that dote and teach me than be all alone." She smiled. "It's selfish, knowing that one day I'll just up and die, leaving everyone to mourn. But at the same time I'm another important person that's fortunate to be in their lives."

"What do you mean by that?" He asked, not quite understanding what the bright spot of the fact.

She smiled even more. "Onkel Preußen had Old Fritz when he was alive and still holds in high regard today, Oncle France had Jeanne D'Arc, Uncle Britain had Churchill and Princess Diana, and other nations who had a high positive regard to normal people."

"I guess that makes sense. I remember Egypt going real quiet when Cleopatra or King Tut's name being mentioned."

"Oh there's more he must've have high regard for. And I bet even Nonno Impero Romano (1) had the same regard with his Emperors. And it goes the same for Uncle America. Especially when I mentioned Teddy Roosevelt the other day, he just plain raved about him that I know more about him than I cared to know. Did you know that Teddy learned how to do taekwondo?"

"Now I do." TRNC smiled as he leaned back against the wall of the building where the G8 meeting was taking place. "I never thought of it like that." He then frowned a bit. "But you'll still be gone one day…"

She knew that she and TRNC have a close relationship that's very similar to her adoptive parents, and pinched his cheek. "Have you no religion?"

"Huh?" He was taken aback by the pinch and the remark.

"Even though most wars were caused by the thought of what is true religion, a common trait of that would be that…" She took a moment to think before continuing. "Even if people die the soul would go somewhere else. And souls don't die." She smiled as she looked up at the clear blue sky. "I won't lie, the thought of death is a bit scary, but not the actual dying, but what my death would be like and whether or not I would pass judgment, if there is one." She giggled. "Sometimes I wonder what God really looks like. But then again he can be anyone he wishes." She looked at TRNC and saw the look of stupor, but he nodded as accepting her view of life after death.

"Who knows, maybe, by some miracle, I'll be reborn as a form of nation so that I can age when I feel ready or something like that."

TRNC shook his head, but smiled. "That would be something, since most of the nations happen to be male for some reason unknown to us."

She giggled before out-right laughing, making the other laugh as well before falling into a comfortable silence, soaking up the peaceful, sunny day.

"You miss them? Your real family?"

She smiled, hearing this question asked so many times before but never fails to make her feel warm by his concern for her well-being. "I do…" She said. "I had a dream of them last night. It did make me miss them, but it's getting easier to handle now." She got up from sitting and stretched. "Man! It feels good to be able to be outside where I don't have to wear a lot of clothes!"

He blinked. "You live in a cold climate?"

She nodded as she held a finger to her smiling lips and a fist to her hip, meaning she was letting him on something that he shouldn't repeat to the others. She had been doing that a lot since she spent more time with him. She felt comfortable telling him these things when she didn't feel ready to tell the others. "I wasn't really sure where I was living to tell you the truth. All I know is that I lived in a place that snowed all the time and I didn't really like the snow on most days because that means wearing a lot of clothes so I don't freeze to death. But after coming here, I realized that me and my family live in Russia."

He blinked as he shook his head. "That would explain a lot…" He said, earning a playful punch to his arm.

"He's not that bad!" She said, defending the Russian nation as she continued. "Anyway… I live in some old abandoned building, the basement of it to be precise…"

"Basement?"

"Warmer under the ground than above it where the snow is, apparently." She said with a smile. "But then I love exploring the building itself. I remember this one hallway having a deep red carpet and old paintings, no doubt from Russian painters…" She got quiet as she started to remember the hallway she was describing. "I would run up and down that hall all the time. Sometimes three of my uncles would chase me and see if they could catch me."

"It sounds like this hallway is special to you." He asked as she nodded.

"Yeah, because it's the hallway where it gets most of the sunlight, making it really pretty during the day and even prettier at night when there's a full moon." She then closed her eyes, seeing the hallway clearly. "I'll play in that hallway, but I also share a lot of great times there as well… We had moon cakes when there's a full moon, I would catch Vati and Mamma dancing sometimes in the day, but other times at night, I would dance with mi mamma and my aunts when mein vati and my uncles are away… That hallway meant a lot to me…" She then opened her eyes to see the boy looking at her intently, paying attention to every word. "To me… that hallway was my link to the world… the world where light can reach and give warmth. That hallway is as close to being outside during spring as I'll ever get."

TRNC didn't know what to say to any of that. He understood that she didn't feel comfortable telling any of the other nations, her adoptive parents is most highly understandable, but he begins to wonder why him? Not that he wasn't honored to knowing such deep information first, but… why?

"So…" He started to say. "Do you like this world?" He asked, knowing he asked it so many times before, but was afraid to ask the real question he wanted to ask.

She smiled brightly. "I love it! I feel guilty now and then because I'm here and my family isn't. But I was watching the Harry Potter movies, don't laugh."

"I'm not."

"Good, because I'll kick you in the vital regions if you did." She warned, but not really meaning it, but it made him wince at the idea all the same. "Anyway, I was watching the movies and there's one thing that makes me relate to Harry." She waited for the other to comment, when none came she continued. "That we were spared so that we can continue living, because our family wants what's best." She smiled as her voice softened once more. "I won't lie… I felt so guilty about coming here, being with everyone… Even on Valentine's Day I felt so horrid about enjoying myself that I nearly screamed."

He was shocked to hear this, remembering that she looked like she had a great time. But then remembered when he gave her his Valentine's gift, how she looked shocked and suddenly looking like Italy, hiding behind any other emotion like a mask.

"But after a while… that guilt ebbed away the more I remember why I was here the first place… why they would risk everything so that I can stand here today…" She held out her hand to him, which was grabbed and hoisted him up. "Why I can enjoy moments like this that I missed out due to what's going on." She blushed as neither of them were letting go.

TRNC's heart was racing once again as they were only a breath's away, making his face warm up. He has a huge crush on her, possibly in love with her, but he liked the idea of being the closest friend because she only confides such deep things such as her past to him. He doesn't have to worry about any of the micro-nations having the same luxury he's having at the moment. But then there were moments like this, where he was so close to her that the deeper feelings bubble up and would feel himself losing the amount of control he has.

She hugged him as he was in the moment of turmoil, but the other hugged back feeling that a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. "Thank you for listening to me. I keep letting pieces of me onto you."

"It's okay. I told you back at New Year's Day that if you ever need to talk, you let me or anyone else know. We're here to help however we can. Me, all I could do is listen and give you comfort." He said, feeling happy at that moment. "I don't mind really." He added. "I like listening to you, makes me feel like I'm part of your life at that time."

She giggled as she hugged tighter.

"Fern-Lui! TRNC! Where are you!" Germany called out, which some could only bet that everyone on the other side of the world could hear him by how loud he called out.

She giggled as they parted from their embrace and tagged him. "You're it!" She said, going back to being the playful child as the boy chased her, both laughing to let anyone know where they are before coming up to the nations as they were exiting the building. She hid behind Italy and called out that she's in the safe point and that TRNC can't get her now, both still laughing.

"Where were you two?" Germany demanded softly, raising a brow and, without a doubt, looking like a father.

"We were out in the gardens talking and playing." She said. "Mostly talking."

Germany looked at the boy, who nodded that it was all they did. "As long as you don't get into trouble."

TRNC couldn't help but smile at how authoritative the German nation acted. It reminded him of Turkey when he was born. So in a way he can understand how Germany is being like this, because Turkey did the same with him, and still does.

"We know, Vati Deutschland." She said, smiling because she felt lucky to still have the same kind of man her real vati is in her world in this world.

"Ve~ Germany, they're very smart. So don't worry so much." Italy said.

Germany pointedly gave the Italian a look, that said 'why aren't you just as worried' and needless to say both children know the look and giggled, making everyone look lost, which made them laugh.

0o0o0o0

Later that day, Prussia came back from a nightly round in a bar with France and Spain, which was greeted by the three occupants in the household. "So! Anything worth knowing?" He asked as he lifted the girl from the middle of the couch between Germany and Italy, plopped himself between them and set the girl on his lap.

"The meeting was chaotic as usual." Germany said grimly.

"Ve~ I thought we had a lot of fun!"

"Yeah, France was telling about it." Prussia said.

"Then why did you ask?" Germany asked.

"To get a different perspective. You know how France is."

Germany sighed, knowing too well.

"What about you? Überwältigend Reizende Nichte? France told me you were nowhere near the meeting.

"I was playing with TRNC when the meeting went on." She said, smelling the beer on his breath, but it wasn't a bad smell.

"You like hanging around with that guy, don't you?" Prussia asked with a suggesting grin crept on his face.

"He's my best friend, why wouldn't I?"

"What about the others? Wy and Seychelles are girls. Don't girls want to hang together or something?"

She laughed. "Maybe if they were there, but they weren't."

"Was Turkey there or something?"

"It's the EU, Bruder…"

"Why was TRNC there but not Turkey?"

"Turkey had a meeting and heard that there was a meeting where we were and figured he would drop TRNC with us as a kind of play date for Fern-Lui while we were in the meeting." Germany explained.

"Ah." Prussia said as he poked the girl's cheek. "So, Überwältigend Reizende Nichte, you like TRNC?"

"He is my best friend, why wouldn't I like him?"

"I mean do you like like him?"

She blinked as she looked up at her onkel. "Like you like like Canada?"

That shut him up as he looked at Germany accusingly, who in turn wasn't sure why his brother was blaming him for.

"Was?"

"You told her, didn't you?"

"Ve~ What are you talking about? And who's Canada?"

Both Prussia and the girl sighed.

"Canada is America's brother who looks slightly like him." She informed as Prussia added.

"But way awesomer, but only second to me."

"Bruder… 'awesomer' is not a word." Germany said.

"It is now, because I'm awesome." He said with a grin before punching the younger German nation on the arm.

"Was!"

"You told her!"

"Tell me what, Onkel?" She asked as she continued to look at the television.

"Nothing… Forget it…"

"You're strange."

"No, I'm awesome."

"Ve~ Prussia likes someone?" Italy asked, smiling. "That's wonderful!"

Prussia's response to that was placing his head on top of the girl's, as if she was a stuffed teddy bear. "He's only a friend, Italy."

"Liar." The girl said, realizing what it was about now and she couldn't help but smile as she thought about two people in mind.

"Don't pester, Fern-Lui." Germany said, wondering if spending time with England, or Hungary for that matter, is making her like this.

"Just saying..."

"Listen to your vati." Prussia said, a bit annoyed but he blames Hungary, and possibly Japan, for that yaoi influence he was sure the woman nation was converting his sweet, yet secretly sassy, and awesome niece.

"Okay." She said. "But it is sweet either way." She hugged the pale arms that were around her as they continued to watch whatever program they were watching.

Prussia smiled, glad to have the sweet side come back.

0o0o0o0

Soon she and Italy fell asleep, making both Germans carry them to their rooms, Prussia with the girl and Germany with Italy, before both were in the kitchen with a bottle of beer in hand.

"Didn't have enough?" Germany asked when he opened his while Prussia was downing his.

"You know how it is." Prussia shrugged. "When I go to a bar that isn't German, I don't tend to get slammed as hard."

Germany rolled his eyes as he downed his.

"You know… Fern-Lui has been with us for a half a year." Prussia said in his moment of uncharacteristic intelligence. "Isn't her birthday coming up?"

Germany nodded. "Ja. May twenty-second." He said as he heard the sputtering of his brother nearly choking on the mouthful of beer.

"Seriously! That's the month and day of her birth?" He then started to laugh. "She's definitely you and Italy's love child after all!"

"I'm going to throw you out if you don't keep it down." Germany said, a bit of an eye twitch at how loud his brother is, and the fact that there's a small puddle of the spewed out German beer on his clean kitchen floor. "And you better clean that up." He pointed to the puddle.

"But didn't you find that odd?" Prussia asked.

Germany sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told you her birthday after we got back from Italy's house." He said.

"Eh? You did?"

"Ja, but you were too busy doing that damn blogging of yours. I'm surprised people read what you put out there."

"What can I say? They love to read what the awesome has to say."

Germany sighed as he saw Aster about to lick up the beer puddle and gave it a stern order to not to and the Golden Retriever let out a whine, which could translate to 'why?', but he gave him a look which the dog turned and left the room.

"I'll never get you, West." He said as he downed his third beer. "Okay! I'm heading to bed."

"Gute Nacht, Bruder."

"Back at ya, West." He said as he headed to his room.

Germany finished his beer, placed it in the respectable disposable place for it, and grabbed a rag to clean up the spoiled beer mess. 'He'll be helping me with the papers in the morning.' He thought as a payback for not cleaning up.

* * *

Translation:

(1) Grandpa Roman Empire - Italian


	19. Chapter 19

_Chapter 19: Magic Circle_

The next morning, Fern-Lui got up to see Germany was about to wake up Prussia to help him with the morning rounds. "Guten Morgen, Vati Deutschland." She said, but not loudly.

"Guten Morgen, Fern-Lui. You're up rather early." He said, wondering if she had another nightmare after a month of not having any incidents.

She nodded. "Ja, I know. I must've fallen asleep while we were watching that movie." She said as she stretched. "I was up earlier, but I couldn't get back to sleep."

"It's not another nightmare, is it?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I didn't dream anything last night. I'm just not tired enough to go back to sleep."

He smiled, seeing that there was no evidence of her being in shock. "That's good to hear. What are you going to do?" He asked, knowing that he was going to be busy trying to get his brother to help him this morning, and he knew Italy won't be up for another hour.

"I'm going to practice some spells that Uncle Britain taught me the other day." She said.

Germany wasn't completely sure if he could trust the Brit to teaching her things like magic and such, but he has seen that trick with her blowing an unlit candle and a flame appeared. Needless to say he ranted out the Englishman after he saw that as the British nation told him that he trusted the girl to not abuse the serious and dangerous art and let it be.

"Which spell would that be?" He said, feeling awkward for even asking, let alone allowing his little girl to do something like magic since he knew England made a lot of mishaps than successes.

"It's the spell he gave me as extra practice."

"The…" He tried to remember what she dubbed it. "Messenger one?"

"Ja!"

"How's that going?"

She childishly frowned. "I haven't gotten it right."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well… I get the piece of paper, write down what I want to say to the person I'm thinking of, fold it up like any letter would be, say the words, and wait for something to happen." She crossed her arms. "I think he didn't get any use out of it because he did something wrong in the first place."

He grinned a bit at how put off the girl is. "Well, just remember you also have piano practice to work on as well."

"I know." She said as a smile brightened her face. "I think Onkle Österreich is coming today."

"Knowing him, he'll be lost." Germany said, wondering if that's where Italy got his lateness from, since Italy did live with Austria for a time.

"You never know." She said with a shrug. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, first off…" He said as he banged the door, hearing a yelp from the other side of the door. "Get your onkle out of his room and help me with some morning chores that need to be looked at."

She blinked. "What did he do now?"

"Not cleaning up after himself." He said.

"Oh, okay." She said as Prussia opened the door and glared at Germany.

"Not awesome, West." He grumbled as he petted the girl. "Have fun with that spell thing." He said, listening in earlier before the other German banged on his door where he had his ear press on.

She nodded as she headed to the library and took a piece of paper off of the small desk that was in the library, which can second as an office, and placed it on the ground. She started to write something down before folding it and placed her hands above the paper and closed her eyes.

_"Send to the one on my mind_

_Go at haste_

_And never let thee down."_

She said only to open her eyes to see that it didn't work… again. She sighed as she thought about what else she could do. She had called England about it and wondered if she should try using a magic circle on it or something. But she was told that a magic circle may work, but finding one that is unique to the caster is the difficult one that even he couldn't help. Being a nation gave him enough time to find a circle that can respond effectively to his castings, but he can't help her even if he wanted to.

"Maybe I can try drawing out some…" She said as she drew a circle and thought about a design for that circle.

0o0o0o0

She was in the small library for an hour before Germany found her, going to clean up the room.

"So this is where you were hiding." He said, finding that the place suited for what she's doing, surprisingly. "How's it going?" He asked as he bent down to her level.

She smiled when he came in, but then sighed when he asked the question. "I'm trying to figure out a magic circle that can hopefully make the spell work."

He blinked. "A magic circle?"

She nodded as she showed him a few designs, which reminded him of England's kind of style. "So far I'm not having any luck having one of them respond."

"Can't England help you with this?" He asked, not sure if this is safe for her.

She shook her head. "I asked, but he said it has to be unique only for me." She said with a sigh as she fell back so she was staring at the ceiling. "I'm going crazy by the second…" She whined.

He couldn't help but grin at such a childish act as he looked at the drawings. "Maybe you're using the wrong symbols." He commented, for once surprised just how perspective he is at helping her find the flaw in the situation.

She shot back up to a sitting position, just as surprised but very happy to hear what was wrong. "You're right!" She embraced her vati and kissed him on the cheek. "Danke!" She then looked at the books, reading the spine labels.

Germany knew what the girl was looking for, and he knew she wouldn't find it in his particular library. "I don't have that kind of book here. We'll have to go out to the public library later to check out one." He said as he stood back up. "Besides, Hungary called and said that she and Austria are going to be here in about two hours, so you better practice the piano for a while."

"Okay!" She said, not at all put out that Germany doesn't have a book of symbols, but that can wait as she enjoyed playing the piano as well. She ran to where the piano was, where Prussia was cleaning, donned with an apron, bandana, and a duster in his hand.

Prussia saw that he wasn't alone and looked shocked. "Don't say anything about this!" He said, obviously horrified that someone caught him in such an embarrassing attire. "West forced me to wear this girly crap!"

"Chill Onkel, it's just me." She said, not at all shocked by the language. "Mind if I practice while you're working?"

"This isn't work, this is torture. But go ahead." He said.

"Magyarország néni and Onkel Österreich are going to be here in a couple hours."

"I heard."

She smiled as she pulled out the piano bench, sat down, flipped the papers to her music book, and started playing on the practice notes.

0o0o0o0

Two hours passed, and Prussia was free to escape to meet up with France, since Spain was occupied with Romano, when Hungary and Austria arrived to a very clean home with the scent of tomato sauce in the air.

Both nations greeted the other two nations, Italy obviously being in the kitchen and Germany in the living room looking over some papers, since his desk wasn't wide enough to organize them all. With that done, Austria followed the sound of the piano, where he found the girl, practicing and knowing that she improved from their last practice meet.

For the next two hours, the sounds of musical success and errors were heard throughout the house as Germany finished the day's worth of papers before finding both Italy and Hungary in the piano room, simply listening to the teacher and student playing out a note at a time.

He'll admit that she wasn't bad, but due to her small reach and hands, she can't play difficult songs just yet, even on the baby grand that he has. Italy opted that they would get her a toy piano, but Austria heatedly refused such a thing, seeing that it was only a child's toy and not a real instrument, which scared the poor Italian and both he and Hungary had a talking to him. But even with the handicap, she was able to play at least one song without difficulty, but mostly it was reading notes for her than playing.

When the piano lessons were done, Germany and Fern-Lui went to the library and checked out a couple books of symbols and myths and legends, went home and she immediately looked through the books.

She knew some of the symbols, but unlike history, she has to see the illustrations to remember the meanings, and even then she would only know one meaning where some symbols have more than one.

"Ve~ Where's Fern-Lui?" Italy asked when he came out of the kitchen to find Germany reading in his study.

"She's in the library next door, drawing out a few possible designs for her magic circle."

"Ve~ Is it really okay for her to try something like that?"

Germany shrugged. "I'm not comfortable with the idea either, but England said that she wouldn't abuse magic as long as she knows her limits, and he's sure as anyone that she knows her limits better than him. Which is saying a lot." He said, remembering a lot of times that England would overdo his magic to try to curse someone, mainly America or France, and end up either halfway or not what he wanted at all.

"Ve~ I hope she gets that one spell though. She seems really intent to get that one to work." Italy said as he sat next to the German and leaned into the other, making him blush slightly.

"Ja. And it seems innocent enough." He said when the lights started to flicker on and off for a moment.

"Ve…?"

"Yatta!" The girl cried out as the two nations rushed to the small library to see a small glowing circle on a piece of paper. "I've got it! I've found my magic circle!" She cheered happily as the glow faded to nothing, leaving the drawn symbol there. She grabbed the parchment and showed it to them. "It took trial and error, but I've got it!"

The two nations looked at the symbol, which was a circle made up of a ring with three smaller circles with horoscope symbols of Capricorn, Pisces, and Gemini in a triangle point fashion. Then there was another ring with another three small circles with some element symbol of Earth, Water, and Air in them in another triangle point fashion, but this was a mirrored version. And in the center there was what looked like the Iron Cross, but there was a circle around it, as if it was a Roman Christian Cross.

"Ve~ This is really good!" Italy said. "What do the symbols mean?"

"Well…" She looked at her drawn circle. "I actually had a hard time finding symbols representing both your houses. So I went with the horoscope approach instead." She pointed to the Gemini symbol, found on the upper tip of the triangle formation. "Since I was born under Gemini, this would represent me." She then pointed to the one for Capricorn on the right point. "Mein vati was born under Capricorn, so does mein onkel, but that represents him." She pointed to the last symbol. "And mi mamma was born under Pisces, so it represents her."

She then went into the next ring of symbols. "The symbols here are elements in regards to the horoscope symbols. Mine is air, Vati's earth, and Mamma's water."

"That's interesting to know." Germany said as he looked at the combination of the iron cross and the Roman Christian cross. "What made you do this symbol?"

She looked at the symbol he was talking about and smiled. "Well, I found out a bit about the iron cross that I really like about."

"Really?" Both nations said, Germany for wondering what can be good about it and Italy for being curious.

She nodded. "Originally…" She looked for the book, flipped a few pages, and showed a picture similar to the iron cross, but it was pointed. "Originally it was the Maltese cross, a Christian symbol from Malta that knights have before it was adopted and altered during Prussia's reign to look like the Iron Cross." She said as she pointed out to the sharp points of the Maltese cross. "There are eight points and each represent a vow that the knights at the time have to follow. One is to live in truth, to have faith, repent of sins, give proof of humility, love justice, be merciful, be sincere and whole hearted, and lastly to endure persecution."

The two nations looked at the magic circle and then back at her. Germany, although still having a debate on the iron cross due to the past, figured that as long as the girl only uses the positive side of the symbol, he wouldn't mind it at all. He knew for a fact months back that the iron cross clips are just something that her parents left for her to remember them by. Italy really liked the whole thing entirely, and because most of his people are Roman Catholic, the Christian meanings fall in line to his beliefs.

"Ve~ Is that why it looks like a Roman Christian cross?"

"Sì, because that's the religion me and mein vati and mamma practice."

"Really?" Both nations asked in unison as she nodded.

"Ve~ That's wonderful to know." Italy said, happy to know a bit more about his adoptive daughter. "Oh! Are you gonna try this on the spell you wanted to do?"

"Not tonight…" She said as she let herself looked exhausted. "Making a magic circle and then getting it to work took a lot out of me." She sighed. "Now I know why Uncle Britain keeps warning me about the strain magic can do to a caster."

Germany couldn't help but chuckle as he picked her up. "You can tell him about it in the morning then."

"At this point I may not be up until lunch tomorrow." She groaned, making the German nation chuckle once more.

"At least you got one thing out of this."

"Ja…" With that she was carried to her room, changed, and went to bed, immediately falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

0o0o0o0

Prussia came in not too long after that, and he joked about if she got her spell to work, which he shut up when he saw the magic circle.

"Seriously? That's what the cross is supposed to mean?"

"One of your leaders adopted and altered it." Germany said as he opened a bottle of beer. "But it still doesn't change what my people feel about the iron cross."

Prussia shrugged. "Not everyone can like the cross. But it's still a part of my history that I let you borrow."

"Ja, ja, I know." Germany said.

"Are you really okay with her doing all this magic stuff? It's not really something our people or Italy's people are known for."

"It's either that or have England try to attempt teaching her how to cook."

"Doubt it." Prussia said. "I bet she would give him hell trying to correct anything that he does when he's teaching. Teachers don't like to be corrected."

"Not all of them." He said, since he also teaches on his days off.

"Anything else going on?"

"Fern-Lui is improving in her piano lessons."

"That's good, otherwise we'll never hear the end of Spec's rants about her not appreciating music and all that crap."

Germany didn't like the thought of it as much as the other before calling it a night, when a heart stopping, blood curling scream cut through the still of the night, causing both German nations run up, followed by dogs barking and Italy running out of the bedroom to the girl's room.

What their eyes met was the girl curled up in a tight ball, shaking like a leaf in a storm. Italy immediately went up to the girl and started to say something in Italian which was soothing, almost alluring as if a lullaby. Fern-Lui clung onto Italy, not paying any mind that the nation has nothing on and was crying on his shoulder until they were reduced to sobs, then hiccups, and finally shaky breathing.

The two German nations stood there, unsure what to do to help the situation, but not feeling comfortable leaving after seeing the girl at her most frightened state yet.

It took an hour before Germany whispered to Italy to carry her to their room, which the other agreed without a second thought and carried the barely conscious girl to their shared room, where she clung onto both nations like a vine as she slipped back to slumber.

Both of them looked at each other, wondering what they're going to do. It wasn't the first they experienced their adoptive daughter's on and off nightmare fits, even a few other nations have seen this as well, but this was by far the worst they've seen it happen.

"Ve~ What are we gonna do?" Italy asked.

Germany sighed. "I know these nightmares have to do with her other family… And she and TRNC talk about a lot of things. I wouldn't be surprised if he knows more about her than any of us." He said as he moved a strand of hair away from the slumbering pale face of the girl. "And England mentioned that if it ever gotten bad, then we should talk to him."

"Ve~…" Italy voiced unsurely.

"I'm sure there's something he can tell us. And if he mentions about using magic to either drown the nightmares or something… we'll talk about it."

Italy nodded as he kissed the girl's forehead. "I just don't want her to see anymore nightmares… It's just plain awful to have them so often… Especially since she was so happy earlier."

"Ja…" He said as both looked down at their adopted girl, weighing options and seeing pros and cons before they fell to an uneasy slumber.


	20. Chapter 20

_Chapter 20: Cause of Nightmares_

The next morning, Germany did not hesitate to call up England about what happened last night and England urged him to bring her to his house right away. He asked about having magic involved, and that took some time, along with Italy's input of it as they talked it over on the phone while Prussia held the girl as she absentmindedly petted the white cat with a scar on the right eye.

"What's his name?" She asked.

"Don't know yet… still looking for an awesome name for him. So I usually call him Awesome Cat."

She fingered the wrinkled and frayed ribbon. "Needs a new ribbon soon…" She whispered as Germany and Italy came into the room and said they were going to England's home.

0o0o0o0

When the four arrived… Germany, Italy, Prussia, and Fern-Lui headed to England's basement, which creeped the poor Italian.

"You sure this is okay?" Germany asked, not liking the torture looking devices hanging off the walls.

"I'm fine… Really." She said as she stood in the center of the floor while England drew a circle around her.

"My dear, this is a serious problem." England said as he finished drawing the circle and went to his book.

"Everyone has really bad nightmares." She said.

"Not as often as yours though." Prussia said in a moment of full seriousness. "And last night got you shaking, and I mean shaking like there's no tomorrow, and we weren't able to get you to sleep for hours. Heck! You look like the walking dead! You're paler than me for crying out loud."

She sighed, knowing that there's no way of getting out of this. She can still remember that dream from last night and now it haunted her while she's awake.

"What are you going to do, England?" Italy asked.

"Well, first of all, I'm going to get to the bottom of why she's having so many nightmares in the first place."

"Is it going to hurt?" She asked.

"A bit of a shock, but nothing… that… will be…" He said as he got his cape on and his book open with a sage bundle in his hand, had the tip over the flame to heat it enough to smoke. "Life threatening."

"I feel so much better hearing that." Prussia said sarcastically.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere."

"Neither does the Busby's Chair."

England glared at the Prussian before clearing his throat. "Now then! Are you ready?"

She sighed as she nodded. 'I want to sleep without seeing that again…' She thought as England started to chant out a spell, making the circle glow and the still air pick up. She felt warm that she felt like passing out before she felt something icy cold going around her and looked to see black scales hovering in front of her.

"This is bad…" England said.

"What did you do?" Germany asked.

"This time this isn't my doing." He said as he flipped through the pages before facing one of the mystical creatures that were nearby. "Go get that one book that I brought in the other day."

"What's going on?" She asked still seeing the scaly trail, much like a snake's body, but she didn't see a head or tail of the creature even though it's going around her.

"It seems there's something on you that's causing me to not go further to help you with your nightmare issue."

**_'Well, well…'_**

She looked around to find the owner of the voice, only to find nothing. She felt a certain fear that she had felt in her dreams.

**_'That's it you idiot… give me more of your power…'_**

Her eyes widened as she saw England about to chant. "Wait! Stop! You're feeding him! Stop it!"

**_'You…'_**

The black energy acted like ropes and tightened around her.

"Fern-Lui!" The nations called out as Prussia and Germany ran towards her, only to be knocked back by the time they reached to the edge of the magical circle's energy.

"What the hell England!" Prussia called out.

"It's not me!" England said, looking fearful for the girl's sake as all of them saw the black energy acting like a constrictor. "That energy again…"

"Ve! What's going on!"

"England! You better explain what that thing is in the next five seconds!" Germany said.

"I saw this energy the first time she came to my house, but I didn't know what it was, only that it was a dark energy. I still haven't found out what it is, and I didn't know it would do this!"

"What is it exactly!"

0o0o0o0

While that was going on, the girl struggled to free herself, only to hear that voice whisper in her head.

**_'So you can hear me… And what's all this about? Hm? Trying to rid of me? You know you can't. Don't you remember?'_**

**_'Stop this…'_** Said a gentler voice.**_ 'You caused enough pain on her.'_**

The threatener growled. **_'Keep out of this, weakling, you can't hold me back anymore!'_**

**_'Please stop this Brother!'_**

**_'I'm not your brother! And I don't need to be here…'_**

**_'Wait! Stop!'_**

**_'Why should I? This is what we've been waiting for! We can finally do what we were supposed to do!'_**

**_'That was decades ago… Things have changed… Or did you not realize that!'_**

The threatener chuckled darkly. **_'We'll see about that!'_**

She felt the tightening hold on her release, only for the magic circle to act up followed by a skin crawling laughter as the dark energy went up to the ceiling, where there was another circle and went through it.

"What in Fritz's name was that!"

"A dark energy, most likely a curse." England said as he got up. "What kind it was I'm not sure."

"I'm sorry…" She said as the nations looked at her. She was still standing in the now destroyed magic circle, head down to look at her feet. "Forgive me… Please don't ask me what that was… I rather… not recall it…" She remembered the blood on the white snow and the body it came from and shook her head. "Please don't force me to tell! I don't want to!" She then felt a gentle embrace and she looked up to see Italy. "Mamma Italia…"

"I'm just glad you're okay…" Italy said as he held onto her tighter. "I was so scared that you were going to get hurt."

She returned the embrace as she started to cry as Germany went up and stroked her hair.

Germany is unsure what to make of all this and he could tell by the look on England's face that he didn't expect anything like this either. 'Whatever it was it's gone now…' He thought. He would like to get answers, but he could see the pain in the small body that he painfully recognized from his own experience.

"So… what do you make of this?" Prussia asked quietly.

England had a look of deep thought before responding. "A curse that personified itself."

"A personified curse? Is that even possible?"

"It's no different than a wicked spirit." England said as he looked troubled. "But what was that thing with a child? And why didn't I pick it up earlier on? Why didn't I sense this much energy the first time she entered the circle?"

"Looks like we're not getting answers today." Prussia said as the girl calmed down.

"I know I wouldn't say anything." England agreed.

"I've seen that look before." Prussia said still looking at the girl. "West knows about what's she's going through too."

"Pardon?"

"You wouldn't understand…" Prussia said as he got up. "Okay! That was possibly the most unawesome thing that has happened in this unawesome house. Can we go back home where we can all be awesome or something?"

"I think that's best." Germany said as he and Italy got up, Italy holding the girl in his arms bridal style, thanked and said sorry to England, who in turn apologized as well, and went home.

0o0o0o0

England was sure now that something was amiss. "Now if only I bloody remember what I did that time… I used a lot of methods…"

"Some of them even whacked your memories a bit." Said one fairy who didn't seem interested at all.

England looked and became annoyed. "If you know something, please do tell, otherwise bugger off! As you can see I'm not in the best of moods to deal with you!" He said as he stomped off.

"Like I don't know…" Said the disgruntled fairy as he hovered next to the annoyed Brit. "Listen, I may have an idea of what it is, but the cast you used is in 'that' place."

England stopped in his place as he looked at the fairy. " 'That' place?" He said quietly as he begins to pale.

The fairy nodded. "And I'll give you a hint, you were going to use it on a nation in that war."

England felt something cold drop in his stomach. "But… it's been years…."

"Enough time to gather enough strength. But now the real question is, why the girl? What could she possible be involved with something like that?"

"Easier said than done…" He leaned up against the wall and rubbed his eyes. "Git! I could be the reason she was sent here!"

"You don't know that for sure…"

"It has to be! I created that to…" He got up to run. "I have to find that casting spell! There has to be something I could make this right!"

0o0o0o0

Back in Germany's house, Fern-Lui was catching up on some sleep as she was in some kind of dream.

_She looked around to see that she was in a white room with a black couch with a man, somewhere around his twenties, in grey slacks and a loose white blouse shirt, and long, slightly mess of black hair._

_The man looked up and his glass blue clear eyes caught sky light blue. **"Long time no see."**_

_She blinked before tilting her head. **"Ferrowim?"** She asked as she saw him smile and she smiled and ran up to him. **"Ferrowim! I missed you!" **_(1)

_**"I missed you too. Sorry I haven't tried to talk to you in so long."** He said when he received a punch on his stomach. **"I deserved that."**_

_**"What took you so long?"** She asked with a pout._

_He looked at her sadly with a sigh. **"I was trying to keep my brother from hurting you through your dreams, but he's just too strong…"**_

_She blinked. **"Was that him back in Uncle Britain's home?"**_

_**"Yeah… that was him…"** He said as he held the girl on his lap. **"If you haven't stopped England from going further with his magic, who knows what he would've done. I know it takes a lot to make a portal so quickly."**_

**_"Where did he go then? And why did he leave?"_**

_He sighed again as he petted the girl's hair. **"I wish I knew… And he was powerful enough to leave on his own and no doubt survive without you to provide stability…"**_

_She leaned in towards him and curled up. "**So those nightmares about that time we met… when you two weren't separated…"**_

**_"Was his way to get you to suffer so that he can have enough power to escape… I'm so sorry… I really did try everything I could to stop him."_**

_**"It's not your fault… Before you met me, there was no other way for you to live…"** She said as he held her tight. **"I don't regret it… but it must've hurt you a lot."**_

**_"It did, but it's a good kind of pain. I just wish Brother can see that."_**

**_"Even if he could, he'll still be like that… He's the darker half after all."_**

_**"Aye…"** He said as he looked alert. **"You have to wake up soon. I'll try to contact him and see where he is and what he's up to."**_

_She nodded. **"Danke, mein friend. You still make a good older brother."**_

_He chuckled as he covered her eyes. **"Until we meet again…"** He said as she felt light for a moment._

0o0o0o0

She woke up as Italy walked in to check up on her and her stomach growled from lack of food earlier. "I'm hungry! Can we have spaghetti with wursts?" She asked happily, making the Italian happy.

"Sì! I was wondering what to make for lunch!"

"Can I help? Please?"

"Of course!" He said as they headed down to the kitchen to start cooking.

When Germany came to see how Italy was doing, he also saw the girl there as well. "How do you feel, Fern-Lui?" He asked, clearly concerned.

"Rested up!" She said with a smile, knowing how scared her adoptive vati must've been. "Can you come here a second? I wanna know if you like how the sauce tastes."

Germany wasn't sure if the girl was playing an act or is really okay, but he played along as he went up and tasted the tomato sauce, and deemed it really good, which made the girl happy which made him ease a little.

"Ve~ Your birthday is coming up soon! What would you like?" Italy asked as he strained the noodles.

"Ve? You don't have to do anything special, I'm happy with what I got." She said.

"Ve? But we should still celebrate it either way, because this will be our first time to celebrate your birthday together."

"He's right." Germany said. "Even us nations who are hundreds to thousands of years old still enjoy their birthdays."

"I guess you're right…" She said.

"What do you do back in your world, ve?"

"Well…" She looked thoughtful. "Everyone gathers around to sing me happy birthday in their native language, which usually sounds strange but I love it either way… then there would be a huge cake made by mein vati und my two uncles that are pretty well known to be good cooks, especially baking." She giggled. "Vati would have a fit whenever he gets stuck with my two uncles, because one would use ingredients that make it sound like he's making bombs than cakes, and the other would annoy him that he looks like a tomato by the time he was able to get away from him and go to Mamma."

"Sounds strangely familiar…" Germany said, remembering the time France would come over that time and shivered at the thought. 'Such a horrid time… And he has to be my neighbor of all things…'

"And after the cake is brought out, I make a wish, blow the candles out, and we all have a serving of cake, which is a rare treat because we have to be careful of the stuff we're using."

"Ve?"

"Oh, all of us were on rations." She said, thinking she may as well let them know a bit of her life, since she told TRNC about it.

"Really?"

"Yeah… Not really great times, but we make the most of it every day." She said with a smile. "Everyone gets into small quarrels now and then, but to me it's funny and once they realize that I'm there, they immediately stop arguing and start forgiving each other. Then they go back to arguing, but they make sure I'm not around."

"Ve~ Sounds like a lively family."

"They are, but there was one time Mamma got really, really, really angry. It was scary…" She shivered. "Mein vati had to take me far away from the room that she was in."

"Ve? Was she really that scary when mad?"

"Mein vati is the toughest man I know, and he said he rather face a firing squad than be in line of Mamma's 'Mafia Rage', or so he calls it."

"Ve! Sounds really scary."

"It only happened once though, so it's really, really rare. Though mi zia was really quiet for a month after that, and her favorite past time is trying to argue with vati, calling him names and what not."

"Very serious then." Germany said, not even imagining what Italy would be like if he and the girl's mother were alike somehow.

"And I still don't know what happened. All I know is that Oncle was bruised the next day."

Germany, knowing that 'Oncle' is French, and thinking about France, he can easily picture the scenario. "Maybe it's best you didn't know then, especially if it made your mutti that upset."

"I guess." She said with a shrug. "Anyway, after cake I would open my gifts, which are usually home-made and the best!" She said happily, remembering her last birthday.

_She was surrounded by everyone, her mamma and vati on either side of her as she opened a crudely wrapped gift, but she was happy to see a metal trinket that she wound up and saw the dog bow then did a flip. She laughed as she looked to see the petite Japanese woman as a man with short blonde hair with a lock of it stuck out from the rest sat next to her, smiling._

_She was brought attention by her mamma to see the hand knit scarf by a long, light brunette haired woman in a dirtied green dress with a white apron, but she was happy to receive the gift all the same._

_She was handed another crudely wrapped gift to find a simple pale pink dress with old lace at the collar and smiled as she looked up to see a woman with straight blond hair that reached past her cheeks, with a man with brunette hair that was tied back, both smiling as she was handed more gifts that were in the same brown paper with old strings._

_She heard her aunt's argument with her uncle, which wasn't new and knew her uncle can calm her down. Then there was another small argument by another woman with long, dark hair in a low pony tail with a smiling tall man with short, platinum blond hair, as she sighed and pouted, which he wrapped an arm around her, causing her to smile a bit._

_She always liked birthdays, she can see how everyone just come together and just enjoy the time together._

"It didn't matter that they were really small or a little strange, I loved all that I received and I draw a lot of pictures for them to return the favor for their birthdays or holidays."

"Is that why you're so good at drawing?"

"Sì, I just love to see someone smile when I give them a picture I took time and care on." She said with a smile. "And so far it's the same here too."

Both nations couldn't help but smile at the cheerful demeanor of the girl as lunch was ready when Prussia came through the door, nearly dragged in by the dogs.

"Damn West! What are you feeding these guys? I thought I was gonna lose my arm walking these guys!"

"Welcome back, Onkel Preußen." She said.

"Oh hey, you're up. How you feel?"

"In your terms, awesome." She said with a slight giggle, making the Prussian chuckle.

"Awesome!" He said as he ruffled the girl's head. "Hey, this looks good."

"Mamma Italia and I made it."

"Again, awesome." He said as he sat himself down and everyone enjoyed their afternoon together, almost forgetting what happened earlier that day.

Almost.

* * *

Translation:

(1) Ferro - Italian - Iron/ Wim - German - Will-helmet

Okay! That's it for now. Just, hopefully, five more chapters to go before I start on the second of the triology, which would require me to look into post WWII and Cold War... I shouldn't have mentioned that... Anyway! Now we're getting to the point where we see that my OOC is hiding something tragic and England is involved. What could that be? Only I know!

Anyway, you guys know the drill, feel free to let me know what you think about this and I'll do my best to reply to those. Until then, laters! I'm going to do do some things on my end and hopefully get this first part done before summer session starts for me.


	21. Chapter 21

Hello everyone! I got these chapters up for you guys. I'm still working on chapter 25, because it's going to be long and will be the final chapter for this part of the triolgy. And I have to say... I feel a bit depressed actually, but you're just going to have to wait to find out what happens in the last chapter.

Well! Without further ado, enjoy.

* * *

_Chapter 21: During Eurovision_

Some days later, and only ten more days until her birthday, Fern-Lui woke up and headed to the kitchen, where she saw the three nations at the table, talking about things she obviously missed on. "Morning." She announced, making the nations look at her.

"Ve~ Buon giorno!" Italy said happily as he mentioned her to come up. "You're just in time for breakfast, I'm making omelets that Zio Francia taught me years ago."

"Sounds yummy." She said as she sat down and looked at Germany and Prussia. "What were you talking about before I came in?" She said as she rubbed the last of the sleep from her eyes.

"We were talking about the Eurovision that's happening tonight." Prussia said as he thumbed Germany. "Und your vati here is hosting it this year."

"Of course no one knows I exist other than our bosses." Germany pointed out as he took a sip of his black coffee.

"Eurovision?" She asked, clearly not knowing what it is.

"Ve~ It's when music artists all over Europe come together and sing and or play out their original songs to perform. This year my people decided to try out again. Ve~ It's a lot of fun, and the last time I was in it was 1995… I hope the artist in the competition gets to the finals. It would be great if our artists make it to the top ten."

"It's entirely up to the judges." Germany said as Italy placed down the plates before cutting the corner. "But it's good that your people are participating again."

"Sì!"

"Um… So… It's a music competition?" She asked.

"Ja. And you're lucky, because, as nations, we get the best spots to watch the performances." Prussia said with a grin. "Think of it as an early birthday present from their bosses."

"Is anyone else coming to watch?"

"I heard America and Japan may come, but Japan is still recovering so he may not stay longer than a day." Germany said.

"How long does this last?"

"For a few days." Italy said. "It's going to be a lot of fun! I would've signed up to perform, but my boss said it wouldn't be a great idea."

"Not like we would be able to anyway." Prussia said. "But then no one can handle my awesome anyway if I were allowed to perform."

Germany gave the other a look and seemed to whisper 'danke gott for that' as he finished half of the omelet. "Would you be interested in coming, Fern-Lui?"

"JA! SI! YES!" She said excitedly.

"The birthday girl has spoken." Prussia said with a laugh.

"When can we leave?" She asked, wide awake and excited.

"Since the concert is located in Dusseldorf, we can easily drive there." Germany said. "The first performance isn't until the early evening, so we have time."

"It's going to be crowded, West."

"I know that, but that doesn't mean we're in a hurry."

Prussia sighed as he waved it off. "Right, right. We trust your sense of getting there on time."

"Ve~ I'm so excited now! Can't we just go now, walk around, have dinner, and go there?"

"I vote for Mamma Italia's idea!"

"Hey now…" Prussia said as Germany had a thoughtful look. "West."

"If you don't want to go then you can stay here and arrive when you feel like it."

Prussia sighed. "Ganged up once again…"

0o0o0o0

Later, the four arrived, only to meet up with some familiar faces.

"Tante Bel-Bel! Oom Neth!(1)" She called out as she ran up to Belgium and Netherlands.

"Baby Konijn!(2)" Belgium said as she bent down to pick the girl up. "I thought I would find you here."

"Hello." Netherlands said as he looked over at the three. "Glad to see you made it."

"Hey, West here is the host for this, of course we're here." Prussia said.

"Ve~ Let's go find our seats!"

"Veneziano!" The nations and the girl looked to where the voice called and saw Romano march up towards the younger Italian.

"Sì?"

"You're not sitting next to these two, are you?" He said pointing to Prussia and Germany.

"Ve~"

"Zio Romano!" She cheered. "You made it too!"

Belgium giggled. "That means Spain isn't far behind."

Romano's face went red as he looked at Belgium and stuttered a bit. "B-Be q-quiet…"

"Romano!" Spain called out as he glomped the other Italian, making him struggle. "Don't run off like that." He laughed as he looked at the others. "Hola everyone."

"Hey man, what's up?" Prussia said.

"Oh, the usual." Spain said as Romano elbowed him in the ribs. "Took a lot of convincing to get Romano out here…"

"I bet." Prussia said as he looked around. "Anyone seen-" His question was cut off by a yelp and spun around to almost punch France in the face. "Not awesome! Wine bastard!"

France merely chuckled. "Oh, you know you love me."

"Drop into a ditch."

"Oh! Petit Oiseau!(3) It's wonderful to see you on this fine competition."

"It's great to see you here too."

"Hey! Don't ignore me when I'm arguing with you!"

"There you are, you bloody frog!" Britain said as he came up. "Oh, hello Little Lady."

"What's with all the nicknames?" Prussia asked.

"It's fun to give her a nickname, da?" Russia said, nearly scaring the Italians to running.

"You're in the competition too? Дядя Россия?"

"Da. It should be a very fun experience, da? Немного Подсолнечника?"

"Da!" She said happily as she looked around. "I wonder if the other nations would come by."

"Belarus and Ukraine are already inside… waiting for me…" Russia said as he started to look depressed. "Waiting…"

"I saw the Nordics and Sealand enter the building not too long ago." Belgium said.

"Is Turkey and Cyprus brothers there?" Prussia asked as he eyed the girl to see how she reacts.

"I don't know. They may already be inside."

"Ve~ The first performance is about to start!" Italy said. "Let's find our seats!"

"Right." Germany said as everyone entered the concert building.

0o0o0o0

Once they were seated, she looked around at the concert and saw the crowds of people with different national flags. "So cool…" She sighed out, eyes sparkling.

"Oh, there you are." Austria said as he and Hungary came up to where the other nations were sitting, Hungary immediately went up to the girl and hugged her.

"I missed you!"

"Nagynéném!" She said happily as she returned the hug, by this point the lights dimmed and everyone was in their seats to watch the first performances of the night.

After the first night of performances, Fern-Lui fell asleep in the car, along with Prussia, heading back to Germany's home.

"Looks like her nightmares are gone." Italy said quietly.

"It has been a while since we went to England's home for help, but I'm not sure it did anything." Germany responded.

"Ve~ She's going to be nine so soon."

"She hasn't been here a year, Italy."

"But it's still too fast…" He pouted. "I keep reminding myself that she's a normal human, and that I can't assume she'll be this little for a long time like most of us."

Germany sighed, knowing how the other feels. "At least we'll sympathize with other parents that don't wish for their children to grow up too fast."

"Ve~ You're gonna have it a lot worse, since you're the Papa."

"Muttis have it too."

"Not as much as a Papa with his little girl."

"You may be considered the mother, but that does not mean the 'papa' thing doesn't affect you either."

"Sì, you're right."

0o0o0o0

The next night of performance, she got a shirt that had the Eurovision words on the front, the 'o' in Euro, was in a shape of a heart and inside it had the colors of Germany's flag. And after that night's performances, she fell into the dream room while she slept in the car.

_**"Welcome back."** Ferrowim said as he lounged on the black bed in the very off white room._

_**"Hello."** She said as she crawled into the bed and just laid on her stomach next to the man. **"Find anything?"**_

**_"No. Not even close."_**

**_"Then why am I here? Doesn't this use a lot of energy?"_**

**_"It does, but I just want to tell you in person."_**

_She giggled. **"You just miss talking to me."**_

**_"We used to do that a lot."_**

_**"Yeah…"** She laid her head over her crossed arms._

**_"You like the new world you're in?"_**

**_"It's not really that new. Just different."_**

_He smiled as he ruffled the girl's head. **"So sweet and yet holds so much to be bitter sweet. Two different chocolates in one."**_

**_"I now regret giving you that chocolate bar that one time."_**

_He laughed which made the girl smile. **"Fern-Lui… There's something I've been meaning to tell you. Well, what he and I were supposed to tell you from the beginning…"**_

**_"What is it?"_**

**_"You know we're not… spirits or demons… We're something created to serve a purpose, but that purpose was already completed before we had a chance…"_**

**_"I don't get it. I mean, I knew you are different, but I don't understand. What purpose?"_**

_He smiled sadly as he turned and wrapped his arm around the girl. **"Like what he did to you, we were suppose to give someone nightmares, make them suffer."**_

**_"Why would you do that?"_**

**_"That's what we were created to do. But then sent to your world far before you were born when he and I used to be one. We had no other reason…"_**

**_"Wait… Are you saying you're from this world?"_**

_He petted her head. **"Where I was created, but I developed in your world."**_

**_"But you're only created to give nightmares, right?"_**

**_"Part of it, the other part is something… terrible…"_**

**_"What is it?"_**

_He looked up at the nonexistent ceiling.** "You better wake up soon. I'll keep looking for Bruder."**_

_**"Wait-"** She said, only for his hand to cover her eyes and she felt light once again._

"Ve~ Fern-Lui? Time to get up."

She blinked before yawning. "Buon giorno, Mamma Italia…" She said as she sat up and rubbed her eye. "Is breakfast ready?"

"Sì, now come on down before the dogs eat it all."

"Vati Deutschland wouldn't allow that. Maybe Onkle Preußen…" She said as she got out of bed and followed Italy to the kitchen.

0o0o0o0

The last evening of the performance was well underway as they listened to more of the music before the announced winner of the singers from Azerbaijan, with Italy in second.

"Congratulations, Italy." Germany said. "Think your people would go for it next year?"

"I know I would!" Italy said excitedly. "Ve~ But I'm sorry you didn't get picked."

Germany shrugged his shoulders. "At least the singer made it to the top ten, that counts for something."

"Sì!"

"At least our gal stayed in, and not like a certain aristocrat or Hungarian, whose singers drop out." Prussia said, earning him a nice huge bump from the frying pan.

Germany sighed as he lifted his brother and carried him to the car. "Remember, Fern-Lui, never rub anyone the wrong way or you'll end up like your onkle… or worse."

"I know." She said as she entered the car, yawning all the while.

"Did you enjoy this?" Italy asked as she nodded.

"I really like it, I never heard my family talk about this, but then again most of the instruments where I'm from are either damaged beyond repair or are horribly out of tune."

"Ve… Really?"

"Sì, but everyone sings to make up for it." She giggled. "Vati has a really nice voice, but he's so shy to sing. Mamma has a really pretty voice and always tries to get him to sing a duet with her."

"Ve~ I know just how your mamma feels! I tried to get Papa Germania to sing for me after I heard him sing while he was taking a shower." This of course is when Prussia decided to wake up from unconsciousness.

"Seriously West? You sing while taking a shower? That's such a chick thing!"

"That was only once and I couldn't get that song out of my head." Germany said, blushing red.

"Ve~ But it was so nice though. I wish you can sing a bit more often."

"I wanna hear to!" She said.

"Yeah West, give us a little performance."

"Nein."

"Please!" Chorused the Italian and the girl.

"You know they'll keep begging unless you comply." Prussia said with an amused smirk.

"Nein."

"Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?" She begged.

"Nein."

"Ve~ Please Germany, I'll make you gelato!"

"Nein."

"I'll sing for you two." Prussia said.

"Do and I'll kick you out of this car." Germany said.

"Are you really that embarrassed to sing, Vati Deutschland?" She asked.

"Nein, I'm not."

"Liar." Prussia said. "I know! Sing one of those children songs?"

"I know only one song that mein onkle likes to sing to get me to be quiet when I was a lot younger."

"How does it go?" Italy asked.

"Well… He doesn't sing the whole song to me… and it's been awhile since he sang that song to me…" She said as she hummed out the tune.

_"The moon has been arising,_  
_the stars in golden guising_  
_adorn the heavens bright._  
_The woods stand still in shadows,_  
_and from the meads and meadows_  
_lift whitish mists into the night._

_The world in stillness clouded_  
_and soft in twilight shrouded,_  
_so peaceful and so fair…."_

"I can't remember the rest…"

_"Just like a chamber waiting,_  
_where you can rest abating_  
_the daytime's mis'ry and despair."_

Germany sang as he continued with the song.

_"Behold the moon – and wonder_  
_why half of her stands yonder,_  
_yet she is round and fair._  
_We are the ones who're fooling_  
_'cause we are ridiculing_  
_as our minds are unaware._

_We vain and wretched sinners_  
_presume to be the winners,_  
_but we know nothing yet._  
_So many neat solutions_  
_are nought but great delusions_  
_that farther off the path us get._

_God, grant us Thy salvation!_  
_No worldly aspiration,_  
_no vanity allow!_  
_Like children simple-hearted,_  
_and joyful like we started,_  
_let us become and teach us how!_

_And lastly, grant us leaving_  
_the world without much grieving,_  
_let peaceful be our death._  
_When from the earth You take us,_  
_let heaven's joy await us_  
_stand by us, Lord, at our last breath._

_So, brothers, in His keeping_  
_prepare yourself for sleeping;_  
_cold in the evening breeze._  
_Spare us, Oh Lord, Your ire,_  
_let rest us by the fire,_  
_and grant our ailing neighbour peace."_

"Ve~ That's so pretty…"

"It's called 'The Moon Has Arisen'." Germany said. "Or 'Der Mond ist Aufgegangen'."

"Sing it in your language! I wanna know how it sounds!" Italy begged.

Germany sighed as he complied to the Italian and sang the song as they neared his home. When he finished, he looked to see the Italian looking at him. "Was?"

"Can you sing that every night?" Italy asked, looking dreamily at the other.

Germany blushed and cleared his throat. "Komm, we better tuck Fern-Lui in." He said as he looked back to see both the girl and his brother asleep. He sighed as he mentioned Italy to take the girl while he got his brother.

0o0o0o0

After the two were tucked in, Germany and Italy headed up to Germany's room when the German nation groaned and held his head.

"Germany?" Italy asked as the other waved it off.

"Nothing, Italy, just a bit of a sudden headache." He said as he headed to the bath room. "I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." Italy said as he entered their shared room before Germany entered to join the other on the bed. "Is everything alright?"

"Ja, it's just a sudden headache. Some water and rest and I'll be fine in the morning."

Italy hummed as he moved closer to the other. "Don't stress yourself too much, or I'll worry more."

Germany managed a small smile as he sighed. "Ja…" He said as he closed his eyes and felt the other moving closer. "Why do you like to sleep next to me?"

"Cause you're warm, and I feel safe, especially when you hug me in your sleep."

He opened one eye to see the other smiling at him. "Really?"

"Sì." He said as he draped his arm over the German's waist. "What about me? What do you feel when I hold you?"

Germany could feel his face warming once again and sighed. "Soft… warm…" He said as he thought about anything else. "Much like a blanket on a cold or rainy day."

"Yay!" He said as he more or less glomped the other, bringing them even closer where there was no space between them.

"Go to sleep Italy…" Germany groaned out.

"Not until you sing the song again."

Germany placed a hand over his eyes. "Will you sleep then?"

"Sì, sì, I will."

He sighed as he sang the song once again in German.

* * *

Translations:

(1) Auntie Bel-Bel! Uncle Neth! - Dutch

(2) Baby Bunny! - Dutch

(3) Little Bird! - French

To hear the song in German, copy and paste this link: www. you tube. com / watch?v= olT6z-aErv4& feature= related

put the spaces together and you should be able to get it. If not than copy the title of the song and paste it on the YouTube search box and find the "Matthias Claudius" version. The singer isn't deeped voice, but the song itself is very pretty.


	22. Chapter 22

_Chapter 22: Migraines_

"Five more days…" She said looking at her little desk calendar and a smile spread on her face. "A lot of crazy things have happened, but I survived another year."

**_"What about Saturday?"_** Ferrowim asked from where he was on her bed, transparent to her and invisible to anyone else but the animals, who still couldn't see him but sense him.

"I don't believe the world is going to end the day before." She said waving it off. "Besides this happened before and all those times are false alarms." She said as she got dressed in her school uniform.

**_"I guess you're right."_** He said as Germany knocked the door, which the girl gave the nation permission to enter.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Ja! Just waiting for you."

"I'm sorry." Germany said as he scratched the back of his neck.

"It's okay, you're just under stress." She said. "It's not easy being a strong economical power in all Europe after all."

He chuckled as he nodded. "That's true." He held out his hand. "Komm, we better get to Austria's before he starts playing Mozart's Requiem."

She giggled as she grabbed his hand, leaving the invisible Ferrowim in the room.

_**"Nice man…"**_ He said to no one in particular. _**"He makes a great dad."**_ He smiled sadly. _**"Has it really been decades when I was created?"**_ He nodded. **_"Of course it has."_**

He then started to look serious, as Blackie went attentive, followed by Lutz and Berlitz, while Aster and Gino looked confused. **_"Where are you, Brother… And what are you up to?"_** He asked himself as he disappeared from the room entirely, causing a lot of confusion with the animals in the room.

Prussia happened to walk by the open room to see the animals there. "Hey, what are you guys doing in here?"

0o0o0o0

Back with Germany and Fern-Lui, they arrived at Austria's house and they were greeted by the ever pleased Hungarian.

"Austria's in the piano room, you can't miss him." She told the girl as she nodded her understanding, said later to her adoptive vati, and headed to where the sound was coming from. "So are you or Italy picking her up?"

Germany rubbed his temple as he told her that Italy would be picking her up.

"Germany? Is everything okay?"

"Ja, just a bit of a migraine." He said.

"Try to drink water and don't push yourself too much." She said.

He nodded, thanked her, and headed on his way. 'Probably stop by to grab some pain killers.' He thought.

When it was her siesta, she was back in the dream room with Ferrowim.

**_"What's going on?"_**

**_"I found out the whereabouts of Brother."_**

**_"Really! Where is he?"_**

**_"That's the thing, he's still in Europe, but he's in a different time."_**

**_"He went back in time?"_**

**_"Aye."_**

**_"You know… when?"_**

**_"This is about three months after the Berlin Wall is put up."_**

**_"Wait… The wall was built… then the border was closed off in August of 1961… So…" She paused to think. "November 1961?"_**

**_"Aye."_**

**_"Why would he want to be there?"_**

_**"I still have no idea."** He admitted. **"But I got a feeling it's not good."**_

**_"What do you mean?"_**

**_"It's time for you to get up."_**

_**"Wait a-"** She wasn't able to finish as she felt light once more._

She woke up and rubbed her eye. 'What the heck was that about?' She thought as she stared at the wall. 'Maybe I should ask Vati Deutschland und Onkle Prussia about that time… It might be painful for them though… Knowing what happened to Vati Deutschland at least…' She sighed. 'I don't like past demons…' She got up as she walked out of the room she was using for her siesta and found the two nations back in the piano room.

She carefully walked in while Austria was playing and sat next to Hungary, who smiled at her and held her on her lap as both listened to the Austrian playing.

0o0o0o0

After Italy picked her up and back in Germany's home, they were making dinner when Germany came into the house, causing his dogs to bark loudly in excitement to seeing their master.

"Quiet! All of you!" Germany snapped, making the dogs go quiet and looked as though they've been kicked.

Italy nearly dropped the bowl of salad that he was preparing, but grabbed it in time as he looked over at the kitchen doorway. "Ve… Papa Germania doesn't sound too happy."

"Sì…" Fern-Lui agreed, never hearing the nation snap at his dogs like that. 'He doesn't snap at Onkel like that when he gets annoying.' She thought.

When Germany walked to the doorway of the kitchen, he told the two that he won't join them for dinner and that he would be in the office if they really need him and left the two confused.

"Ve… I wonder if it's his headache."

"Headache?"

"Sì, it wasn't that bad a few days ago, but now it looks like it's getting worse…" Italy said, obviously sad about what's going on. "I make sure he gets enough rest and water, I even make sure to grab some headache medicine to help, but nothing seems to work."

She grew concerned for her adoptive vati and told the Italian that they should probably make a light soup for him. "He can't get better on an empty stomach." She said as they got down to work on the soup.

0o0o0o0

Once the soup was done, Italy took it up upon himself to deliver it to the nation. He went up to the door, knocked lightly on it while also saying the nation's name and saying it was him.

"Come in…" Was the German's response as the Italian entered the office. "What is it you want?"

"Fern-Lui and I made you some soup. Because you can't really work or get better with an empty stomach." He said softly, a bit scared and worried about his very dearest friend, and secretly more.

Germany looked up from the paper he was staring at for the last half hour and pointed to the vacant spot next to him. "Put it there." He said softly, finding his own usual tone to be graining on his already agitated nerves.

Italy placed the bowl on the mentioned spot and studied the man. "How are they? Your headache?"

"It developed into a migraine… Not so well…" He said as he leaned back against the chair, rubbing his temples. "Sleep doesn't help… I drank enough water to be waterlogged for a week… and the pain killers aren't affecting at all…"

"Should we… go see a doctor?"

"I already did… My boss noticed how off I was and sent me to see a doctor. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong with me, and it doesn't seem to be any effect from my people, so I'm at a lost to what is going on." He rubbed his eyes before looking up to see a very concerned Italian. "I'm sorry if I scared you and Fern-Lui. I honestly didn't mean to snap the way I did…"

"I think they've forgotten that." Italy said with a small smile. "Fern-Lui is playing with them as we speak."

"That's good…" He sighed as he groaned and rubbed his temples. "I just want this to go away…"

"Maybe one of the nations can help? There's all sorts of remedies that science can't fully explain, and it's completely natural…"

"At this point I'm desperate for any relief…"

"Should I not sleep next to you tonight then?"

Germany sighed. 'Of all the things he asks.' He thought as he shook his head. "Only if I start snapping at you."

Italy smiled happily. 'What a relief! I was for sure that I would be kicked out if it was really bad! But I have to be really quiet like the last few days.'

Germany took a spoonful of the soup and sighed. "This is good."

"Ve~ I'm glad you like it. Fern-Lui and I made sure it has everything you need to feel better."

"Danke… to both of you… I'm sorry again for the way I acted earlier."

"It's okay, you didn't mean to." He said as he carefully hugged the other before heading towards the door. "Don't work too late. Even if sleep doesn't help, you should have a good night's rest. It's not good for your body if it doesn't rest."

Germany smiled as he nodded. "Ja. Thanks for reminding me."

Italy hummed as he left the other be. 'I hope he gets better soon, this is kinda freaking me out.' He thought as his verbal tick let out as he sighed.

0o0o0o0

Later that evening, Germany was done with at least half the work he was doing and decided to turn in. 'Can't have Italy worrying about me like the last few days.' He thought as he held his head. 'Gott… How long does a migraine usually lasts?' He was heading to his room when he saw the door to Fern-Lui's room slightly ajar. 'I haven't said good night to her for a few nights now…' He went into the room to see her curled up and fast asleep.

His dogs looked up at him as he petted each one, softly saying sorry for each one before leaning over the girl to place a kiss on top of her head. "Sweet dreams." He whispered as he headed to his room.

Ferrowim was in the room when he saw that and smiled softly. _**"Even in pain he can still show affection."**_ He said as he exited the room and headed to the room where Germany just settled down into his side, looked at the very asleep Italy, kissed on top of the other nation's head with a bright blush on his cheeks, and settled to, attempt, to sleep. _**"I think this calls for a little magic."**_ He said to himself as he went to the German's side and extended his hand over the other.

He whispered some words as the nation glowed slightly before gasping and the light disappeared, but it seemed to work as Germany seemed relaxed. But he looked at the other in fear. **_"Oh no…"_** He said quietly to himself, although no one can hear him to begin with besides the girl.

He put out both his hands over the nation, closed his eyes and chanted an ancient language, stressing every word as Germany's form started to glow again. This continued for five minutes before he stopped chanting and the glow faded once more. **_"That should keep it at bay… But it won't last long…"_** He sighed as he placed both hands over his face. **_"Dear Lord… He's doing to attempt to do_** that**_…"_**

He looked at the German with a sad expression. _**"I'm sorry you have to go through with this… The blame is on your boss after all… the boss that caused you so much suffering…"**_ He sighed as he leaned up against the window, which of course the light went through him like the windows behind him, not leaving a shadow. **_"And now you may experience something far worse… Unless…"_** He seemed to have an idea, but then looked doubtful. _**"I can't do that… It's far too risky…"**_

He looked at the two nations on the bed once more, the unaware German turned over and wrapped an arm around the Italian, who in turn curled up more into the strong form. **_"Good Lord Almighty… Although I have sinned… Please show me a sign of what this sinner can do to save one who has also sinned but in a way that only the devil himself can impose on."_** He prayed as he went up to the nation once more and placed his hand on the nation's head, but not be able to feel anything from it as his hand went through like a ghost. _**"Probably for the best…"**_ He exited out of the room and entered the girl's room, where he disappeared on the spot.


	23. Chapter 23

_Chapter 23: Radiating Warmth_

"Sealand… If you're going to call this early in the fricken morning, could you make sure it's actually important…" She said, obviously woken up as the shrill of the phone was going off before any of the nations were to get up to answer.

_"But this is important! The world is going to end in the matter of days!"_

"Go back to sleep." She said as she placed the phone back on its hanger. "Gute Gott…" She was going to return to her room when the phone rang again. "Hallo, Deutschland residence…"

_"Lulu! I'm being serious here!"_

"So am I, and don't call me Lulu."

_"But we have to hang out before the end of the world happens!"_

"The world is not going to end! How many times do I have to say it before you get it!"

_"But it was prophesied by a man of the church! Surely that means something!"_

"Tell that to France and England, and then to Japan when the same prediction was said in 2003."

_"Oh… Forgot about that…"_

"That's because some moron didn't spend thousands of dollars to advertise the judgment day… Plus this is happening in America's house, and we all know how much he likes attention. Who's to say his people don't have that trait?"

_"So… the world isn't going to end?"_

"That's what I've been saying for a half an hour! And you're freaking out about it _days_ before the supposed date when it was announced for nearly two months?"

_"Well sorry that I'm afraid of facing zombies or having everyone, including us nations, die off like we don't exist!"_

"First of all, zombies are the least of your problems, you just need good aim and a lot of ammo, which I'm sure Uncle America has, and Vati Deutschland… And possibly Zio Romano… Second you are a micro-nation, which is still a nation just not a great deal of one, sorry you're just going to have to toughen up with what you got. And lastly, if you ever call this place about the end of the world one more time, I will go Mafia on you."

_"How early did I call?"_

"It's four fricken in the morning here! If it were anyone else, I would've let you suffer with getting on mein Vati Deutschland's und Onkle Prussia's bad side, and then your chances of grandeur of being a nation has just dropped big time."

_"… I'm sorry… I didn't realize I called so early."_

"Just go back to sleep so I can get back to mine…"

_"Later…"_

"Much." She put the phone back on the hanger and walked only two steps before the phone went off. She groaned as she picked up the phone. "Sealand! I swear! I thought we settled on the matter of the stupidity of this judgment day thing and that it wasn't going to happen! Now quit calling so fricken early in the morning while the rest of us are still asleep at this hour!"

_"Whoa! Whoa! It's me, America!"_

"Uncle America? Why are you calling at this ungodly hour?"

_"Why are you still up?"_

"That's rude, but like I said, Sealand called about his fear of the end of the world thing and I spent the last half hour and hanged up on him twice for him to get a clue. You do realize the huge time difference, right?"

_"Well, yeah, but I thought Germany would be up by now. Since he's usually the first one up and all."_

"He has a headache, so he's trying to take it easy… Unlike me who's developing one."

_"Sorry… I'll call later then."_

"I hope this is the last time I hear the phone ring…" She said as she and the American exchanged 'laters', and hanged up the phone, not moving for a minute before heading back to her room, only to see Prussia getting out.

"Why are you up?" Prussia asked.

"Phone went off, I answered, talked to Sealand that the world is still going to be here, tried to get back to bed, phone went off again, this time Uncle America wanting to talk to Vati Deutschland about something that I didn't ask what, and now I'm going to get back to bed."

"Oh… Well, I'm going to give Canada a call, since he's probably getting ready to bed by now."

"Go ahead… I'm going back to bed." She dragged herself back to her room and curled up into her bed.

'Poor kid…' Prussia thought before grinning. 'West is a bad influence on her. She's starting to act like him.' He went to the phone and dialed up the number. "Ja, can you connect me to Canada's residence… Tell him the Awesome is calling, he'll know what it means… Danke…" He said as he waited for the other to pick up.

_"H-Hello?"_

"Hey there Birdie." He said, grinning from ear to ear. "Heading off to bed?"

_"Just about, just- Oh for Christ Sake! That was a foul play there! Damn it! Oh! I'm sorry Prussia! The game is on and it's almost ending."_

"No problem, I find it hilarious to hear you curse when the game is on." He said as he heard the Canadian nation giggle.

_"I guess it would be funny, hearing me sound so soft most of the time but then become loud when it comes to hockey."_

"Aw! That's just how you are though. And that's awesome in my book, and you know I don't throw that word around lightly."

_"I know, I know."_ He said understandably. _"So, what brings you to call?"_

"Oh, just telling you good night, since it's almost five in the morning here."

_"Oh my gosh! I haven't even realized how late it is here."_

"I had a feeling you'd still be up." He said as he heard the other laugh. 'Such a nice laugh, even through the phone.'

_"Well, thank you for calling and- Are you fucking blind ref! He completely scored that without fault!"_

Prussia chuckled his unique chuckle before the other apologized and they parted with their last note and he placed the phone back on its holder.

The little yellow bird popped up from his head and ruffled his feathers before hopping down to his master's shoulder.

"Well then! It seems like today is going to be awesome." Prussia said as he went to grab a jacket and headed out the door. "Let's see who else needs to bask in my awesomeness?" The bird tweeted as it fluttered above his head.

0o0o0o0

Later that morning, Germany was rested and migraine free, which was a huge relief to Italy and the girl as he went to work, wondering what could've brought on the sudden cure of such pain.

It was Italy's turn to drop her off to drop his adopted daughter to take lessons from Ukraine, which both shared in the suffocating force that is Ukraine, before leaving to go to work, which he'd been doing lately since New Year's Day, much to Romano's relief.

Fern-Lui really did like Ukraine, who would sometimes cry unnecessarily while she did her lessons, which was mostly how to farm. She enjoyed helping out with the cows and even getting to see a calf being born.

Russia came to visit sometime before her siesta, and she liked to sleep on his lap as it turns out, which gives him and excuse to talk to Ukraine as they enjoyed the warm spring air out in the nearby field where her farm is, just before his heart nearly stopped when he felt Belarus grab him from behind.

"I found you, Брат…"

"Go away!" He cried as he held the sleeping girl to his chest like a doll.

Belarus didn't hear that as she looked at the sleeping girl in her brother's arms… in his arms… where she should be… married…

"Belarus… Don't sneak up on Russia like that." Ukraine said as she looked like she was going to cry.

"Why is she here…" Belarus asked pointing to the sleeping girl.

"Oh, today is my day to give her lessons!" Ukraine said happily. "But all I could teach her is farming, which she said she never farmed before so she quite enjoyed it!" She then started to ramble about what both did earlier before Russia arrived.

Belarus only heard the first thing Ukraine said as she looked at the girl in Russia's arms. She watched at the girl curled a bit more and hummed something before breathing softly against the larger nation's chest.

She would never admit out loud that she did find the child cute, but she also felt slightly jealous that the girl seems to grab her brother's attention when it should be directed at her. She doesn't wish any ill will on the girl, since she's only a child and therefore not someone that she would be in competition with, especially a mortal child. She also knows that the child seems to already have an eye on TRNC, who in turn has an eye on her, yet another reason why she shouldn't fear of the girl to be her rival. It was only the attention the larger nation was giving is what's bothering her.

Russia did like cute things, especially if they're warm to the touch, and who better than a girl who isn't wary of him and always seem to make him smile, for the pure purpose to make him feel welcomed and loved? Then there were the times when he seems to have the overprotective brother side of him towards an unknown threat, much like on Valentine's Day.

"Belarus…" Russia said quietly as he handed the girl to her. "Would you like to hold her? She won't bite."

Belarus looked at the heavy sleeper of the girl as she hesitated to hold out her arms to take the girl from her brother… out of his arms…

"Make sure her ear is above your heart, that seems to calm her down if she gets a nightmare." Russia informed.

"Nightmares?"

"Da. She had them quite frequently in the past, but it looks like it stopped, but we can't assume it won't come up again."

She held the girl in the way her brother advised and found… a strange comfort from it. 'She's like a heater.' She thought, noting how warm the girl is in her arms and up against her chest. She saw the girl move her head so her ear was completely over where her heart is beating. If it were France (or any other nation that isn't her brother) would meet a pain that other pains will cringe in fear, but she found it endearing as the girl curled up more for her to have a better hold on her.

"She's very warm, da?" Russia asked, making her look up. "I like it when I hold her, because she gives off a kind warmth that, even asleep, can brighten anyone's day just by holding her."

"I know!" Ukraine said. "She's just like the first sign of spring! When the warmth in the air is noticeable and everything seems brighter and newer after months in the snow."

Belarus looked at the girl as she hesitated petting her head. When she did, she wasn't able to stop, but the girl smiled in her sleep as a sigh of complete content escaped. 'Oh no… I've become like Брат and Сестра…' She thought, knowing that now she was trapped in the spell that she was sure the girl is unaware of casting on most of the nations.

0o0o0o0

When she woke up, she was happy to see Belarus, which made the nation blush and look away, not able to face the adorable, happy, very Italy look, before Ukraine mentioned about continuing her lessons on cultivation of crops.

When Italy came by to pick her up, he was scared to see Russia and Belarus, but both nations greeted him calmly as the girl gave all three of the Russian nations a kiss on the cheek, Belarus turning a nice shade of pink when she did, and they parted ways to return home.

"Oh shit!" Prussia said as he was midway to sticking a fork full of pasta in his mouth.

"No cursing at the table, Bruder." Germany said with a pointed glare.

"But West, Fern-Lui's birthday is like two days away!"

"We know." Said Germany and Italy in unison as the girl giggled.

"What are we going to do? Throw a party?"

"Done that." Both nations said in unison, causing the girl to look up and both her and the Prussian shared a 'Orly?' look.

"When was this?" She asked.

"A week ago." Italy said, contently eating his pasta.

"Why wasn't I in on this?" Prussia asked, glaring at Germany across from him.

"Because you weren't around when we were planning." He said, ignoring the glare as he ate his share of pasta. "It will be held in the World Meeting here. That way everyone can meet up on Saturday for the meeting and then on Sunday is when the party will be held."

"Still not awesome for not letting me in on it. I would've made it awesome."

She giggled. "It'll be great either way."

"You're just too darn nice."

"There's no law against me being nice, just like there's no law against you being awesome."

"You recognize!"

"Please quiet down and eat, Italy went through the trouble of cooking, again."

"Ve~ It's no trouble at all! I love cooking, pasta especially."

"We know." The Germans and the girl said in unison, causing everyone to laugh.

Unknown to everyone at the table, Ferrowim looked at the happy family and smiled, but then looked concerned. _'That spell I used won't last much longer… And knowing Brother he may not even last long as a nation if this continues to be ignored…'_ He sighed. _'Looks like I don't have a choice in the matter… I would have to use 'that' spell…'_ He looked back at the happy family, which now has the Prussian making the girl laugh over very dumb jokes while Italy laughed along and Germany sighed with an eye roll now and then. _'Now that I know him from this perspective, I can't let Brother have his way… or judgment day is as good as possible.'_


	24. Chapter 24

_Chapter 24: World, Meet Ferrowim_

If anyone asked if the prediction of the end of the world is real, then it didn't stop the nations to have a World Meeting in Germany.

"Sealand! For the love of all that is sacred and holy, would you shut up about the end of the world? It's not going to happen!" Fern-Lui shouted at the stubborn British micro-nation.

"How do you know it won't?"

"Per l'amore di Dio! Lei è quest'ingenuo! Can't you bother someone else with your hysteria?" (1)

"But I wanna know why you think it's not going to happen!"

"We can argue all day about this and still not get anywhere because you don't believe me!"

"Why should I believe you!"

"You're the one who called me at four in the morning that day! You tell me!"

"What the bloody hell is going on?" England asked as he looked at the arguing children.

"Oh, Sealand called and had a bitch fit about the whole end of the world thing from America's house." Prussia filled in while Germany was trying to get things ready, rubbing his temple now and then, and Italy was chatting away with Romano, which became a one-sided argument in itself. "And I do believe Sealand has earn his spot of her 'dislike' list."

"She has a list?"

"Dunno. But I would keep tabs if I get annoyed this often."

"I see…" England said as he looked over at the children, just in time to see the girl flip the boy over her shoulders. "Bloody hell…"

"That's just a taste of what you'll get if you don't stay three feet away from me!" She said as she left the slightly stunned nation on the ground.

"Awesome move there." Prussia said.

"Thank Japan and China, the martial arts really came in handy." She said calmly as she looked around to find TRNC.

"Going over to your boyfriend?" Prussia teased.

"We went over this already!" She whined. "And besides, you're kinda being a hypocrite."

"Am I missing something?" England asked, looking at the two.

"Nothing that concerns you." Prussia said.

"I doubt it."

"It's a family inside thing." She said as she waved it off. "Well, I better say hi to TRNC before Sealand recollects any senses that were knocked out of him." She hurried off to the de facto state, who was a bit caught off guard with her hugging him, but he hugged back as Turkey laughed and Cyprus chuckled.

England was still lost as he looked at Prussia, who disappeared to meet up with Canada, who's invisibility stopped working as soon as the ex-nation came up and patted his back. 'Bloody hell! Where'd he come from! And who is he?'

"Ah! Hello England, my friend." France said as he wrapped an arm over the Britishman's waist.

"You frog! Release me at once!"

"Non, I like you here with me." He said when his foot was stomped on. "Ow!" He yelped as he released the other to nurse his abused foot.

"That will teach you to hang off of others without consent." England said as he walked away to find his seat.

0o0o0o0

America and Japan entered the meeting room and walked over to where Japan's assigned seat was at.

"You didn't have to take me to my seat, Amerika-san."

"Last time I left you to your devices in someone else's home, you nearly passed out."

"I'm fine, as you can see I'm getting better."

"That's good news." He said with a smile. "And if Fern's right about today, then there's really nothing we have to worry about, just do what we normally do and make sure you continue to improve in health."

"I agree with you." He said as he sat down. "Thank you, Amerika-san, I think I can handre this."

"Right! Well, if you need me, you know what to do."

"Hai." He said as he watched the American run off to annoy England, only to stop to talk to Prussia and Canada, which then led to an argument with Cuba.

"Nihon-ojisan!"

He looked to see the girl run up to him and received a hug, which he returned. "Rui-chan, it's very nice to see you again."

"It's better to see you getting better!"

He chuckled. "Hai, but it wirr stirr be a rong whire before my peopre can return to normar rives."

"Hai, but at least you're not getting worse, that would be really, really bad. And I would be sad."

He smiled as he rubbed her head. "You're so sweet, Rui-chan." He then mentioned that he has to look over his papers, which excused the girl to run off to greet the other micro nations. He looked to see Italy and Romano having a conversation while Spain was holding Romano, getting hit repeatedly under the ribs, making him flinch. He looked over at Germany and he sensed the atmosphere was troubling. 'Doitsu-san?' He thought, wondering what the atmosphere could possibly be.

Germany, meanwhile rubbed his temple for the tenth time today. 'Damnit… Feels like the headache is coming back… But I have to get this meeting going, or it will be proven to be a waste… again.' He thought as he cleared his throat. "The meeting is in session!" He called out, making everyone sit in their assigned seats, Italy plopping down next to him. "Very gute." He said as he laid down the rules of the meeting, ignoring the slight jabs at the back of his head as he told his points of view of the issue they were discussing, before America called out about his view, which he shot down for not having any required data to pull something like that off. After he finished with his, it was handed off to England, which nearly caused another argument before he stopped it once again, but it only made his headache worse. 'Damn… At this rate I may pass out…' He thought as he felt a hand on his and looked to see a concerned Italy.

"Are you okay?" Italy asked.

"Ja, just a headache." He said, slightly lying. 'Right, more like a migraine. Why come back up now?'

Italy was concerned for the other. 'Oh no! The migraine has come back!' He thought, not knowing what to do now that all the nations are here and making it worse for the other.

0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Fern-Lui was at the corner of the room, in eyeshot of her adoptive parents as she was drawing the nations once again.

_**"Got a second?"**_

She blinked as she heard the voice next to her and looked from the corner of her eye to see Ferrowim sitting next to her.

_**"You can talk to me through your thoughts."**_ He said as he seemed troubled.

'What's going on?' She thought as she continued to draw to make it look like that's all she's doing.

_**"Germany's in danger."**_

She couldn't help but stop what she's doing and looked up at the other. "What!" She shouted, making the room of nations stop talking and look her way.

"Ve~ Is something wrong?" Italy asked, wondering if whatever is causing Germany to have migraines is also affecting her as well.

She blinked, not meaning to cause a stir with everyone in the room. "Uh… I-It's nothing… I thought I saw something move and I didn't know what it was… heh…" She said. "Sorry I overreacted."

'At least it got the room to be quiet.' Germany thought as he brought everyone back into attention to the matter at hand.

'So close…' She thought as she eyed the other from the corner. 'What do you mean Vati Deutschland is in danger?'

_**"Brother is trying to attempt something that may bring about the destruction of history to the present time."**_

'I don't understand… What's he trying to do?'

_**"You know the headaches he's getting?"**_ He said as he pointed to Germany, who is rubbing his temple again. _**"That's just the sign that Brother is doing something to him in the time he's in."**_

'What is he doing to Vati Deutschland, exactly?'

_**"He's trying to take over."**_

'As in mind control?'

_**"Worse I'm afraid."**_

'What do you mean?'

_**"He's going to be Germany."**_

0o0o0o0

At this point she can't keep her thoughts from voicing out. "What do you mean by that!" This caused another silence in the room as she stood up and glared at the spot that Ferrowim is occupying. "You're not making any sense here!"

"English bastard!" Romano called out. "You didn't feed her any of your crap, did you!"

"Of course not!"

"Then explain why she's talking to nothing!"

Germany is concerned about the girl's sudden behavior, but then he started to hear ringing in his ears as he groaned in pain.

"Germany!" Italy called out, brining attention to the nation as he held his head and breathing labored breaths.

"The Potato Bastard too!"

"I'm telling you I didn't do anything!"

"That's not too far from the truth…" Said a voice as everyone looked to see the man getting up from the floor next to the girl. "It's nice to see you again after so long."

"Who the bloody hell are you!"

"For once I agree with the British bastard. And stay away from my niece! You pervert!" Romano shouted.

"I'm called Ferrowim by Fern-Lui…" He said as he walked over to where Germany was still holding his head, oblivious to what's going on, and placed a hand on his back, causing the nation to relax and fell asleep. "But to England, I'm known as the Lingering Nightmare Curse." He looked up to lock his glass blue eyes to England's shocked emerald. "Don't you remember, Father?"

"W-W-Wha…" England struggled to voice what he wanted to say as he pointed to Ferrowim.

"What am I doing here?" Ferrowim said, not removing his hand off of Germany's back. "It's quite simple, really, since I came with Fern-Lui."

"B-B-But… it's been decades… why come back now?"

"Well… I actually had no need to come back to this dimension." He said calmly as he looked at everyone. "Don't get me wrong, I mean everyone no harm…" He then looked down to the sleeping German with a troubled look. "But I can't say the same for my brother."

"There's two of you?" England said, shocked. "I only remember creating one!"

"We split about…" He looked at the girl. "How old are you again?"

"I'll be nine tomorrow." She said.

"So that means… Wow, that's actually not a long time since we split. Four years ago."

"What the bloody hell are you talking about!"

"That's what I wanna know." She said with her arms crossed. "And what about Vati Deutschland? You said he's in danger!"

"WAS!" Prussia shouted as he rushed over to England and held him up by the collar. "You better explain yourself well if you want to walk out of here alive!"

"If you may, Mr. Prussia, not harm him, we'll need him for what I propose."

"And why the hell should I believe you? Why should anyone believe you?"

England got out of the Prussian's grasp and fixed his collar. "I agree. Plus I would also know why you, supposedly, split? If memory serves me right, it takes a lot for a curse to even become a persona with personalities."

"I'm no different than Frankenstein's monster, Father." Ferrowim said calmly. "Although my name is a combination of Italian and German, much like Fern-Lui, it is she who has given… I wouldn't say birth because she is very much like a sister to me, but a new kind of life that comes with having a name. But before I met her I spent the last few decades in the world you sent me to fend for myself and found out new ways to serve my purpose as a personified nightmare curse."

"You're a curse?" The girl said, surprised.

"I am."

"And you're originally from _here_?" She said as she pointed to the ground.

"Aye, I am. I couldn't tell you because you were still too young to understand, nor would you have believe me then."

"Hold up!" America called out. "You're saying you've been wandering around in her world for however long-"

"It was minutes after the news about Hitler's suicide was announced when I was, more or less, birthed to the world."

There was a moment of silence following that as Prussia held the English nation by the collar once more.

"What the fuck did you create him for?" Prussia threatened as his glare alone could've killed an army.

England, knowing that he now has a seriously pissed off and serious Prussian before him that would make even his former empire tremble with its fury. "Well… It was at the spur of the moment when I was on a one track mind to get revenge on Germany after what happened during the war when his troops bombard me with all those bombs at my home…"

"And you created a nightmare that can follow like a shadow to cause Germany to get depressed, weak, and more likely to surrender, when you have failed to realize that it was the boss, not the nation, that needed punishment." Ferrowim said to fill out the story. "Excuse me while I explain my side of the day of your stupidity and failure, once again, as a father figure."

"Now hold on! I never said you could call me Father by any means!" England called out.

"True, you never did." He said as he looked at the girl. "Fern-Lui, could you do me a small favor?"

"What is it?"

"Create your magic circle for me, I may need to use it after this." He said as she nodded and went to work on the circle as he faced the nations once more. "Now… the beginning…" He said as he closed his eyes. "Just seconds after I was created…"

* * *

Translation:

(1) For the love of God! Are you this naive?- Italian

And now for you guys to suffer with questions and 'WTF' moments. There's a lot of things happening in the next chapter, so after reading this you better find a very happy song or fic to go to after I posted it up. I can tell you this, it's one of those final chapters that isn't really on a happy note. I should know, I found myself about to cry on some of the parts. Well... later... I guess...


	25. Chapter 25

Last chapter of the first part of the trilogy! And this made me totally depressed typing this up in both sense of the word. Anyway I hope you got something happy after reading this, because I'm not sure how you guys will take it and you may hate me for this chapter alone... Well... I don't have anything too major to announce other than that so... Enjoy.

* * *

_Chapter 25: Tragic Tales and Rescue Mission Start_

_England's laughter was heard in the basement as he saw that the curse he was working on is a success. "Now that Krut will get what's coming to him!" He wore his cape, but there were noticeable signs of gauze and bandages going mostly around him. "He'll pay for the pain and suffering of mine and his people! Honestly! We may have been harsh on our people in the past, but what he did was just plain cruel!" He looked at the toddler-like blob, which doesn't have any humanistic features besides the way it stood and formed. There was no face, but there were outlines of a nose and mouth from the side. The gender itself was questionable, but that didn't matter. "Now then, Germany will experience his worst nightmares every night as he sleeps and in his waking moments! He won't be able to escape until he surrenders!" Then one of his trusted members ran down and burst through the door._

_"I'm sorry to disrupt you!"_

_"None at all! I've completed the very thing that will make the Krut beg for surrender."_

_"That's the thing sir, Germany surrendered just now."_

_"What? How!"_

_"Hitler has committed suicide by gunshot, sir…"_

_"I just completed this damn thing!"_

_"I'm sorry sir…"_

_"Bullocks! Now I have to find a way to rid of it!" He groaned. "What a pain!" He flipped through a few pages before growling. "Damn it! Nothing in here describes to get rid of a created curse…" He sighed as he looked at the blob, mindlessly wandering around the magic circle, much like a toddler before it could speak. But to him it was just a wasted curse that he worked day and night without food and rest._

_With his mind on disappointment of the wasted effort, he looked for a quick way to dispose of the thing. Flipping through the pages he found a spell to open a new dimension. He looked at the blob and huffed through his nose. "It won't last long in another world." He said as he chanted some spells, which opened a portal and the blob disappeared._

The nations looked at the mysterious man then at the English nation.

"You're such a major prick up the ass! You horrid and abusive son of a bitch!" Hungary yelled.

"I agree with Hungary-chan." Japan said.

"Diddo." Prussia said.

"And I agree with them." America said. "That's way worse than the stories I hear in my own home."

"He wasn't exactly human!" England defended himself.

"You're right, I wasn't." Ferrowim said. "But like Frankenstein's monster, when you sent me to a different dimension, you were not aware that you sent me to a world very similar to this one, only there are no personified nations, just pure land being homes to billions of people."

_The blob wandered around until it came across some children playing. It watched the children, a girl and a boy, sister and brother, chasing each other and laughing._

_"Bang! Bang!" The boy called out holding out his hand like it was a gun, making the girl fall to the ground and was still. "I got you now! Evil witch!"_

_"Children! Come inside!" Called a woman in an apron as the children ran inside a house and were not seen again as the blob moved along deeper into the forest._

_Years passed and the blob had developed an animalistic psyche from seeing the dreams and nightmares of the forest animals before coming across a ruin city as the builders try to rebuild what has been damaged. It didn't realize that the city was in its post-war stage as people's fears were less while awake, but for some the nightmares of fighting in a gruesome battle is fresh in their dreams. To this blob it was simply a meal as it sneaked inside homes of the strongest it sensed and simply feed on the suffering as well as seeing the very fears of the person's nightmares._

_Then it came across a child who is sick and dying. The boy was the only one who could see it as he questioned the human-like blob._

_"Who are you? Are you death?"_

_The blob did not know how to speak on its own, but understood words as it moved slightly._

_"Don't you know how to talk?" The boy asked as he coughed._

_The blob copied the action, not seeing it before, which confused the boy as he moved his arm in a way of greeting, the blob following his gesture. "You're not Death, are you?" Silence. "You're a shadow?" Silence. "Must be… even Death would make some kind of sound." The boy had black, messy hair and dark blue eyes, with his skin as pale as moonlight. He extended his hand out. "Come closer… Let me see you better…"_

_The blob went up to the extended hand, looked at its own, which looked more like a paw of a cat as it morphed into a human hand and placed it over the offered one._

_"Wow, you're solid… I thought you might be a ghost…"_

_The blob stayed with the boy, who was often left alone as the caretakers, other children who have lost families during the war and uncared for by anyone as they decided day in and day out whether or not to serve the small amount of food they were able to scrape amongst each other or have some have more and the others to be hungry for another day. The boy, though sick, was often left out of the food portions._

_They were by no means friends, as the blob studied the suffering and growing resentment the boy felt towards the other children for ignoring him. He learned the hunger of the human's standpoint as he had learn the animalistic hunger from a certain animal's food supply being cut off due to human activity or watch mothers eat one of their young to supply milk for the others. It learned that the weakest were always weeded out first._

_The blob learned what death is from watching animals dying from old age, illness, or killed by another, but the boy's death was very quiet as he slept through until he stopped breathing entirely. The blob may have liked the boy somewhat, only because it learned that, like the boy, it too was shunned away due to some kind of fault. It learned to morph itself to the person, creating an exact copy of the dead boy._

_The blob then developed an identity as a male as he left the corpse to rot on its own and walked out of the long abandoned house and wandered, nude to everyone, as he was seen as everyone._

_It wasn't long until a preacher caught sight of him and lectured the boy about being modest. When the preacher noticed that the boy didn't respond and looked at him blankly, he knew that the boy was uneducated and brought him to an all boy's school._

_The school was where he learned how to read and speak, and learned things such as history, a great source of global suffering in his mind as he also learned about hierarchy of the boys as he was often the target of many bullies. And it wasn't boys alone as educators also treated him poorly. He didn't pay any mind to this as he absorbed their dislike, hate, and sick pleasures like a sponge._

_One of the younger men who worked at the school seemed to be kind to him, but in reality the man had an eye for boys, often watching as they played. This man had his eye on him and the boy learned from his constant looks is something he would come to know of lust and cruel, painful desire._

_One night he was shoved into a shed and was locked in by a group of bullies as he absorb more of their cruelty. It was this night that the man, only in his twenties while he looked to be ten, found him and brought him to his room where he was washed down. He didn't understand about touching, but he absorbed the idea of a different hunger, lustful hunger as he was taken that night without complaint as he learned the painful lesson of child molestation and rape._

_It didn't last long as the man was found out with another boy, who cried and screamed, allowing the preacher go into rage as he more or less beaten the man to death for his sinful crimes of stealing innocence and lusting after the same sex for animalistic satisfaction._

_Soon the school was burned down and he escaped back into the forest where years later, much had changed and he grew slowly into a teenager and was taken in to a biker gang, when motorcycles were developed to be better and became a sign as rebellion and a community that only the bikers can understand. The women were more attracted to him as they designed the outfit and the men introduced him to alcohol, drugs, and smoking. He learned how to kill another life and laid a woman, both willing and unwilling. He soaked all the suffering, pain, hate, every negative feeling he had ever come across as he silently left once again and it will be more years until he experience an even greater suffering._

_0o0o0o0_

_He still looked like a teenager, and emotionless as the day he morphed into the dead boy he met decades ago as the world changed, but not its suffering. He was walking through a large town when he was onslaught with a new kind of suffering as he heard women crying and men shouting in anguish to God, asking why._

_For some years he had not seen another child running and laughing in the streets while women who were carrying were found in the alleys, murdered and the fetus torn out of the abdomen._

_Soon no woman was recorded to have been carrying while pictures of children from newborns to those shy of the adult age were displayed._

_This was the suffering of families loosing loved ones, an unknown to him._

_He had enough of the sadness and left to be somewhere alone… He had absorbed so much suffering that he wasn't able to comprehend what he had absorbed. To him, suffering was his source of survival that started out as shock of nightmares and had grown into something more deadly. For another set of years, he wandered around the frozen tundra of Russia that was void of any life as far as he was concerned, or so he thought._

"That was when I saw a group of survivors that were taking refuge in the frozen no man's land, where apparently one of the members knew an old abandoned building that his great, great grandfather had built in case war was to reach and harm him and his family." Ferrowim said as he placed the perfectly hand drawn magic circle on the ground, causing it to glow and created a larger version on the ground. "That should do it." He said as he mentioned America and Prussia to bring the unconscious Germany and lay him down in the center of the circle. "Now he'll be able to sleep without feeling the pain Brother is no doubt causing."

"About that, how did you split?" America asked. "I mean, I'm sorry about all the shit you went through and all, but… Let me get this straight…"

"Go on."

"You're a sponge of all kinds of negative suffering… right?"

"Aye."

"But towards the end you mentioned that you experienced suffering of a lost loved one, and that expected mothers were being killed because they were carrying kids…?"

"Aye."

"Are you saying that Fern is the _only_ kid in the world she's in?"

Ferrowim tilted his head to the side. "Why should I answer a question that's quite obvious?"

"They didn't need to know that…" She said, showing how much older she seemed.

"I'm sorry… But they need to know sooner or later… And you're going to have to tell them how we came to be."

She paled as she avoided all eye contact with anyone.

"We're not going to like hearing it… are we?" Prussia asked.

"It all depends…" Ferrowim said as he continued. "Well, I only briefly saw the group of survivors before going my own way and the next time I saw any of them…" He then looked at the girl. "I think you should finish this part."

She shook her head as she bit her lower lip and clutched the front of her white with blue flowers dress.

Ferrowim bent down to the girl's level, who looked away to avoid eye contact. "I know you still feel the pain from that time, but do you want that to be repeated here?"

"It's not the same!" She glared at him.

"No, he didn't get harmed the way Germany is right now, but the result will be the same, and with Brother it will be even worse… Can you afford to watch him the way you watched your father four years ago?"

"I'm not getting it." Spain said. "Did something happen?" He was ribbed by Romano, who was very serious about what was going on, even if he was just as clueless as he was.

"Fern-Lui… You are very young, but you are very bright as well." Ferrowim said. "It's entirely up to you what you should do. In the end it is you who will make a difference…"

She started to hiccup as tears fell from her eyes as she looked at the unconscious form of Germany and walked to where he was, an inch away from the out most edge of the circle. "I grew up as an only child, in both sense of the word. I was the only child of mein vati and mamma, and all my aunts and uncles have lost theirs like many other mommies and daddies." She started. "I was only five years old, and I didn't understand why Vati and my uncles always had to head out for weeks, sometimes months on end when I really wanted him to stay." She took a deep breath. "I got angry, and told him that I hated him… and ran off outside."

_She had her thick jacket on and her wool cap as she trudged through the snow in her thick pants and boots. She didn't wander off too far from where the building was located, but there were signs of childish angry tears over her flushed face as the icy wind just seemed to irritate her. She didn't look where she was going, as a cluster of leafless trees were seen._

"I didn't see the opening… the snow can really trick the eyes to think that it's still solid ahead…"

_She went towards the trees, only to take a step and nearly had a sensation of falling before being grabbed behind and flew backward, not missing a startled cry of her savior as she fell into the snow as she heard what sounded like a twig being snapped in half. She got up from the snow and crawled until she clearly saw the edge she almost fell into._

"I looked over at the edge…" She said as she wrapped her arms around herself, gripping her upper arms as she started to shake as her eyes focused on the German. "And what I saw was…"

_Red. A trail of red starting from the sharp rock at the very edge of the drop to the clearing at the bottom, where a built body was lying face down, and the black winter coat and hood blocked her view of her savior. She carefully climbed down and when she got to the bottom, the pure white was dyed a sickening red where the head is located. She reached out her hand on the hood and pulled it back to see the same short blond hair that's so much like her own, and the profile of the strong face, frozen with shock as life wasn't seen in the light blue eyes and slightly parted, pale blue lips._

_"VATI!" She screamed as she started to shake. "Get up! Get up! You have to get up!" She pulled the shoulder to move him onto his back, only to scream out in horror._

"It look like someone slit his throat with a rusted, crooked saw!" She screamed as she cried and held her hands over her eyes, not wanting to see anyone as the image was clear in her mind. "I knew then he was dead! I was so scared! I didn't know what to do! I couldn't go home! And I said those awful words to him! I didn't mean it! I didn't!" She cried as everyone was silent after hearing the tragic experience.

Italy wanted to hold the girl, but Ferrowim did so as he continued.

"I happened to be in the area when I heard her crying." He said as he stroked her back.

_The man wandered through the forest when he heard her scream and calmly walked to where he heard her crying. He had felt the pain of loss before, but never this strongly. As he found her, she was over on the corpse's chest, crying as the blood showed that the man died not too long ago. But as he watched on, the pain the girl radiated was not something he was strangers with, but at the same time he didn't understand the strong emotion behind it. He heard of the word 'love', but he did not understand the meaning of the word, for he has not witnessed such in practice._

_"I'm sorry… Forgive me Vati… I didn't mean it… I don't hate you… I love you… I just don't want you to go again… I always miss you when you go because I love you so much… I'm sorry… I didn't mean it… I don't hate you… I don't hate you…" She rambled as she started to hiccup._

_He went up to the corpse and crying girl and looked at the face of the man that the girl is crying over. He bent down and closed those eyes, finding it slightly disturbing although he had seen such dead eyes before as the girl looked his way._

_"W-Who are you…?" She asked, slightly fearful of the stranger as her energy was spent with crying and held onto the coat of the corpse like a life line._

_"I have no name." He said, after all his years of existing, no one bothered to give him a name._

_"Why?"_

_"I was never given one." He said, as he found a certain attraction towards the girl. "What are you doing here?"_

_She explained what had happened before bawling out more onto the dead man's chest. "I wish I can turn back time so that this doesn't happen… I wish he's still alive…"_

_"Is that truly your wish?" He asked. "You wish he would be brought back, just how he was before this?"_

_She nodded. "More than anything!"_

_He placed a hand on her head, stilling her fits for a moment. "I know one such spell that can make that wish come true, but there is a price to it."_

_"What is it?"_

_"Your very being." He said. "This very spell will disregard me the ability to be solid. So, in other words I need to use you as a host to hold me so I can continue to exist. Understood?"_

_She looked at her vati, eyes closed as if in a peaceful sleep, but the darkening gash is a tragic reminder of what happened and nodded. "Yes…" She said as he placed a hand on her shoulder._

_"Come closer than, your tears are needed."_

_"My tears?"_

_"Yes. Now cup your hands, so that the tears can gather."_

_She did so and watched through the falling tears as they gathered onto her hand as the man chanted an unknown language as she started to glow._

_He placed his other hand over the open neck wound and gasped at the surge of emotion that was going through him from the child to the corpse. He continued to chant as his heart, the one he didn't realize he had, started to beat rapidly and he felt his own tears going down through his eyes. It was warm and it made him feel… nice was the word he never thought he would use, but that's the only way he could've described it. He stopped chanting and saw that the girl's cupped hands were filled with her tears. "Now… you gently pour the tears onto his neck." He said, his voice nearly choked as he told her._

_She did just that and saw that the wound closed itself until it looked like the wound never existed, not even a scar was seen. "Amazing…" She said as she felt her shoulder being squeezed._

_"Now you have to breathe life into him."_

_"Huh?"_

_"You ever heard of the story Snow White?"_

_"Ja! Mamma loves that story!" She said as she went over and kissed her vati on the lips._

_"You have to breathe air into him." He said._

_"Like CPR?"_

_"Exactly…"_

_"Why didn't you say so?" She opened the corpse's mouth and breathed air into the mouth, which caused the body to jolt and she stepped back to watch her vati cough violently before relaxing and his chest was going up and down. "He's alive right?"_

_"Yes, he's just resting now…" He said as he cringed and held his chest where his heart is supposed to be._

_"Mister! Are you okay?"_

_"It hurts… Why does my chest hurt? I never experienced such pain."_

_"Is it because of the spell?"_

_"Nay… It's because of something you felt about that man."_

_"Mein vati? Oh! You mean love?"_

_"Love... I never experienced that in my existence…" He started to cry uncontrollably. "Oh God it hurts so much! Is love suppose to be this painful?"_

_Fern-Lui, confused, scared, and sad, just watched as the strange man was losing it. "Mamma… she said that love is really great, but it can still hurt you because it can easily be broken once gained." She wiped her reddened eyes of any other tears. "We can live without it, but we can never enjoy things without it either…" She started to tear up again. "Love is everything… Even when we choose to ignore it or say bad things about it…" She wiped away her tears and smiled a bit. "Thank you, for granting my wish… Now I can fulfill my end of the bargin." She said as he doubled over. "Are you okay?"_

_"Nay… I… I think I'm tearing in two… I…" He continued to cry in both pain and the overwhelming feeling known as love. "I've only known the darker sides of suffering… I've never done anything to help another willingly like today… Never have I felt love… I… I can't take both emotions at once! Not after years of hate, loathing, shunning, rage, discrimination, looked down on, and hurt!"_

_"You sound lonely then…" She said as she hugged the man as she hummed out a song that was sweet and calming, not seeing the man starting to fade and his energy turning into two separate orbs, a white and a black. When she did realize that the solid form wasn't solid anymore, she looked to see that the man was barely holding onto consciousness. "Mister!"_

_"It is alright… This is how I… that is to say my two halves, are able to join you." He looked up at the girl and smiled. "Thank you… I know the beauty of such power as love… I feel… so much at ease… It's… nice…"_

_"Wait! Don't go!"_

_"I never left… my two halves are now a part of you… So I'll always be around…" He said as he completely faded away._

_"Mister…" She said as she placed a hand over her heart. "It's you I should thank…" She then heard a groan and she looked back to her vati as he was waking up._

_"Damn… What hit me?"_

_"Vati!" She called out as she hugged him and cried on his chest. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it when I said I hated you earlier! I don't mean it!"_

_Her vati, the spitting image of Germany with his hair in a casual, non-slicked back style, held the girl, calming her down and telling her that he's right there. Not knowing that he was dead for a good fifteen minutes._

_When she did calm down they headed home, pretending that nothing had happened, but always remembering what really happened that day._

The meeting room was dead silent as both finished with their past stories.

"So…" America started, not liking the heavy atmosphere, and he doesn't read the atmosphere well. "It's obvious that you're the light orb, but what about your brother? The black orb? What does he have to do with this and why is Germany the one being screwed over?"

"Watch it, that's mein bruder you're talking about!" Prussia growled, causing the American to back away a bit, and they were five feet away from each other.

"Brother, who decided not to use the name she has give both of us, is the personification of all the horrid things that my original self has suffered and always spoke about regaining back an identity that we had once had. But unlike my original self, Brother took more of the hate and revenge aspect of the sufferings, which I blame England for, and is now not only going out to finish what we were originally created for, but also gain an identity through another."

"Meaning…" America asked.

"He's going to crush Germany's soul and take over his body as his own."

A moment of silence before Cuba, America, Hungary, France, Spain, and Canada tried to keep Prussia from killing England as the ex-nation cursed out in his native language as he was held back.

"Ve~ So, how do we stop him?" Italy cried.

"Unfortunately there's nothing you nations can do."

"So he's good as dead!" Prussia said, changing his target to the man.

"No… Well, maybe if not done successfully…"

"Dude! Just tell us before we lose our grip here!" America called out.

"Let go of me! Damnit!"

"There is a way to save him," The atmosphere calmed a little as he pointed to the girl. "But she has to go do it."

"Huh?" Was the response from everyone.

"Brother is currently in November 1961… He's silently attacking Germany when he was on his emotionally weak state."

"Oh. Fuck." Said France, England, and America in unison.

"Why can't we go with her! She's just a girl for heaven sakes! A day shy of her ninth birthday!" Romano demanded.

"And run the risk for you to run into your past selves while you're there. I do not like this anymore than you do, but she is the only one who didn't exist at that time, and therefore more likely to save Germany from my brother's oppressive, silent assassin influence."

"But she's only a child!" Austria said.

"Believe me, if there was another way I would do so." Ferrowim said with a sigh. "But alas I have done all I can. Now it's up to her."

"What can she do, da?" Russia asked calmly.

Ferrowim simply smiled. "You mentioned before that when you hold her you feel welcomed and loved. And I do believe all of us can agree from knowing Germany that he may need a bit of that. And I believe it's those simple things that can act as a defense from my brother's penetration of his soul."

"But what if your brother goes after her?" Japan asked.

"She's protected by me, and as Germany's emotional well being improves, so will his defenses against brother to protect him and her. Right now he's focusing on the weakest link of the post-war nations."

"Sounds like a damn potato bastard wannabe."

"You'd be surprised how much he fanboys the Third Reich." He said dully. "It's quite disturbing…" He looked at England. "Will you help me then? Send her to 1961?"

England was silent for a moment before sighing. "This is my mess after all… I just wish I would've gone in her place."

"Believe me, you would've made it a hell lot worse than given." He said as he looked at the girl. "Sorry I didn't give you much of a choice, but time isn't really a friend at the moment, and we wasted a lot by explaining everything."

She rubbed her eyes and stood up, determined. "I'm ready. I'm good with history anyway, so I'll know what's coming while I focus on making sure I don't leave Vati Deutschland's side!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Oh!" She took her clips off and ran up to TRNC and gave the clips to him. "Would you mind watching these while I save mein vati from being… you know."

"Uh, sure, no problem."

She kissed him on the cheek. "When I get back I'll owe you big time." She said with a wink before running back up to Ferrowim and England, who then dragged Norway.

"Sorry, but this requires a lot of magic caster energy to send one little girl back a few decades."

"I don't mind. As long as she gets there okay." Norway said as he looked at the girl. "But will she be able to get back?"

"After she deals with my brother into submission, then it's just a matter of knowing what's going on and I'll be able to summon them back."

"Sounds too simple."

"Believe me, after dealing with my brother, the simple things are very welcoming."

"Ve~ Fern-Lui…" Italy said as he went up to the girl, clearly concerned. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?"

She nodded. "I will, Mamma Italia. You just make sure no one messes with Vati Deutschland while he's out of it. Or he won't have us make pasta for a month."

"Right!" He said with a smile as England announced that they were ready. "Ve~ Please be careful and… make sure you don't leave Papa Germania's side…"

"Not planning on leaving." She said as she held his hand. "Don't worry about me, Mamma Italia, just have faith in both of us."

Italy nodded as he kissed the girl on her head and whispered an Italian prayer before letting her go. "We'll be here when you get back!"

"I know what I want for my birthday! A huge bowl of your best pasta!" She said as both laughed as she went to the center of the circle.

"Okay then…" England said as he took a deep breath. "Good Lord have mercy."

"God isn't going to help you at this current moment, British bastard." Romano said.

England momentarily ignored that as he mumbled some words to get the circle to glow before he chanted louder to get the center circle that she was standing on to glow brighter than the outer circle.

'Here we go again.' She thought as she closed her eyes. 'Brace for impact.' She then felt herself being lifted and then had a sensation of being shoved and thrown fifty miles per hour. 'I hate this part!'

Back at the meeting room, everyone saw the girl disappear from the center of the circle and the circle's glow died down to nothing.

"Well, that's that." England said.

"So, what now? Wait?" Spain asked.

"What else, bastard? Not like we can do anything besides watch Potato Bastard One in a fucking coma of all things." Romano said as he glared at said nation, only to growl. "I can't even do anything when he's like this!"

"Ve~" Italy sighed as he sat down next to the unconscious nation, hands together and started to pray.

0o0o0o0

With Fern-Lui she woke up with the rain pounding on her and she found herself in a forest of some kind.

"Where in Europe am I? I better be in Germany, or it's going to be a long and tiring walk." She said as she sighed. "First things first, find a road and-" She stopped when she heard a ruffle from the bushes behind her. "Hallo?" She said as she took a few steps away from the bushes, only to hear a growl as a black mass appeared slowly from the bushes and blood red, human eyes were staring at her.

"Hallo to you too…" Said the black mass as it morphed more to a human being, specifically a Nazi secret police officer with hair black as crude oil and a grin that would have France running to save his vital regions from being seized. "So glad we finally get to meet."

Her eyes went wide. "You're… Ferrowim's brother…" She said as she was received a spit to the face.

"I'm not a weakling like him!" He shouted as he grinned cruelly. "I decided on a name for myself, but I'm afraid you won't live long enough to know it." He lunged at her, which she quickly dodged it, and started to run anywhere at this point.

"You can't run from me!" He shouted as he ran after her. "I know why you're hear you little bitch! You think that you being here would change anything! Then you're just as naïve as that weakling!"

She continued to run, being very thankful for Germany's lap running almost every morning and all of China's and Japan's crazy speed trainings.

She managed to find a road and picked a path and continued to run, but she was caught as her dress was tugged back, making her lose balance and fell to the side, causing a few scrapes. She barely regained the idea of getting up and run again when a gloved hand was around her throat and was lifted up.

"Damn you're a pain… No wonder you were sent here… But it looks like your luck runs out when you met me, Neo Nazi." He said as he squeezed his grip around her throat. "Like it? I figured it's a better match for me than Ferro. What the hell were you thinking when thought about giving me that damn name? At least that weakling likes it, he likes it so much that he combined the name he already has with that one."

She was scratching at the gloved hands as she was having difficulty breathing.

"Look at you… Such a pretty thing all muddied and scraped up." He tsked. "Such a shame… Oh well, it's not like I'm simply going to leave your remains to be seen.

'Help… Somebody…' She thought as she couldn't see straight anymore as the grip grew tighter around her neck, cutting off any chance of breathing. 'Vati…' She felt herself slipping into unconsciousness as he heard the cruel laughter that haunted her nightmares before.

Neo was too busy watching his victim struggle that he didn't see or hear the approaching car as the head lights went on and the sound of a breaks screeching was heard as he was hit, releasing the girl and disappeared.

The girl on the other hand hit the ground and her head hit a rock, causing extreme pain to the point of passing out.

"Mein Gott! Was habe ich geschlagen?" (1)

'Vati Deutschland…' She thought as she tried to move, but her legs cramped on her as the mud made her slip back onto the ground

"Mein Gott…"

She heard the other come to her side.

"He! Bleiben Sie mit mir!" (2)

She felt being picked up by strong arms and she grabbed a fistful of fabric. "Verlassen Sie mich nicht… erfreut…" She managed to strain out and winced at the sound of her voice. (3)

"Ich muss Sie zu einem Krankenhaus erhalten." (4)

And with that, she welcomed the darkness that is unconsciousness.

Record 1: End

* * *

Translations:

(1) What did I hit? - German

(2) Hey! Stay with me! - German

(3) Don't leave me… please… - German

(4) I have to get you to a hospital. - German

Okay! I haven't got the first chapter of the second part ready, so you guys will have to wait while I go research hunting... after I do a few things that I have to take care of on my end. But anyway, I would like to hear your comments/theories/questions if you have any and... that's about it. Until we meet again!


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